Turkey's AK Party picks Gul to contest presidency

By Hidir Goktas and Paul de Bendern

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's ruling AK Party decided on Monday to re-submit Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, an ex-Islamist, as its candidate for president, party sources said, in a move sure to anger the country's secular elite.

AK Party sources told Reuters Gul would visit opposition party leaders on Tuesday to try to garner support for his bid. He is then likely to hold a news conference in parliament to formally announce his candidacy, they said.

The secularists, including powerful army generals, derailed an earlier attempt to have parliament elect Gul as president, a move that triggered early parliamentary elections which the AK Party won decisively last month.

A first round of voting in the presidential election will be held next Monday.

Secularists oppose Gul because of his Islamist past and the fact his wife wears the Muslim headscarf. Gul, who denies any Islamist agenda, has already signalled he wants to run again.

The cabinet debated the presidential election on Monday and talks continued late into the evening at the AK Party's executive board.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said ordinary Turks and AK Party officials favoured Gul's candidacy, fuelling expectations that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government will defy the army generals after its re-election.

The army, which views itself as ultimate guarantor of the secular order, ousted an Islamist-oriented government in which Gul served 10 years ago.