Turkey's highest court halted a parliamentary vote that looked certain to lead to a president rooted in political Islam, a victory for secularists who fear the country is moving toward Islamic rule that would undermine their Western way of life.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded by calling for a constitutional amendment to allow the president to be elected by popular vote, rather than by the parliament. And he said new parliamentary elections could be held as early as June 24, instead of in November as scheduled.
The goal would be to elect a government with a fresh mandate and resolve a crisis that has seen the stock market plummet and the pro-secular military threaten to intervene.
"God willing, Turkey will go back to its track," Erdogan told reporters late on Tuesday, referring to the economic and political stability that Turkey had enjoyed in recent years.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, the ruling Islamist party's presidential candidate, said he would not withdraw his candidacy despite Tuesday's setback from the Constitutional Court, a strongly secular body, and urged parliamentary elections "as soon as possible."
"What we need to cast off and get rid of these shadows is early elections," Gul said.
Erdogan said a new presidential vote would proceed in Parliament today.
"We will apply to Parliament starting tomorrow morning for early elections," he added. "The earliest possible date for elections is June 24 or July 1."
At the heart of the conflict is a fear that Gul's party would use its control of both Parliament and the presidency to overcome opposition to moving Turkey toward Islamic rule. More than 700,000 pro-secular Turks demonstrated in Istanbul on Sunday, many of them women who believe political Islam would deprive them of personal freedoms and economic opportunities.
Secularists are deeply skeptical of the government despite its stated commitment to secularism, as well as reforms aimed at gaining membership to the European Union, because many ruling party members made their careers in Turkey's Islamist political movement.
Erdogan once spent several months in jail after reciting an Islamic poem that prosecutors claimed had incited religious hatred.
The ruling party has advocated an eventual move toward a US-style presidential system with a more powerful executive, adding to concerns about a president with an Islamist tilt.
In his remarks late on Tuesday, Erdogan said he would push for a referendum if necessary on a constitutional amendment allowing the president to be elected by popular vote.
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