The Islamist AK party of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan received a setback today in it's attempts to move Turkey further along the Islamist road, as Turkey's top court ruled the first round of presidential elections invalid on Tuesday because parliament lacked a majority to vote...which in turn was caused by a boycott of the elections by the oppositon.
The Constitutional Court upheld an appeal from the secularist opposition that wants to stop the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party's candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, becoming head of state.
This could lead to early national elections.The AK said another round of presidential polls would be held in parliament on Wednesday, in which Erdogan could propose a more acceptable candidate - if he chose to.
Turkey has been rocked by the political standoff, frank language from the army threatening to intervene and protect the secularist constitution and an anti-government rally that put almost one million people in the streets of Istanbul.
The army sees itself as the final guarantor of the secular state and has precipitated 4 coups in the last 50 years, most recently in 1997 when it acted against an Islamist leaning cabinet in which Gul served.
I'm sure Erdogan is very aware that it could easily happen again - but what action he plans to take is a mystery at this point.
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