Source: New York Times
Wire Service: Reuters
[nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-turkey-president.html]
ANKARA (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was sworn in as Turkey's president on Tuesday despite the objections of a powerful military that fears a creeping subversion of the country's secular order under the former Islamist.
Gul, who enjoys popular support, is the first politician with a background in political Islam to win the symbolically important post in Turkey's modern history.
In contrast to past inaugurations, the army top brass and much of the secular elite, including the main opposition Republican People's Party, stayed away from Gul's swearing-in ceremony.
Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit said on Monday he saw "centers of evil" seeking to undermine the secular republic, a statement suggesting the army would not stand on the sidelines if it saw the separation between religion and state threatened.
Gul pledged to uphold the principle of secularism, which he said also guaranteed the freedom of religion, after he comfortably won in a third round of voting in parliament.