ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's prime minister met with his ministers Saturday after the country's military expressed deep concern over the presidential election in a statement analysts said was an ultimatum to the Islamic-rooted government.
In a statement posted on its Web Site late Friday, the powerful pro-secular military said it was monitoring the election with concern and indicated it was willing to become more openly involved in the process.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's presidential candidate -- Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul -- failed to win enough votes in a first round of voting in Parliament that has been marked by tensions between Erdogan's government and the defenders of Turkey's secular ideals.
Opposition lawmakers have called for early elections as the only way out of the impasse.
"It is not enough to call it a 'stern statement,'" Oktay Eksi, political commentator for Hurriyet newspaper, said of the military statement. "It has to be called a straightforward ultimatum."
"It expresses concern over the fact that if Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is elected, the presidential palace, which is considered the last bastion of secularism, will be handed over to a person who is anti-secular," Eksi said.
The military has staged several coups in past decades, and in 1997 led a campaign that pressured an Islamic party -- of which Erdogan and Gul were both members -- out of government.
At the time, the military issued warnings to the government to curb Islamic initiatives, while people took to the streets in protest of the government policies.
The European Union, which has been pressing Turkey to curb the military's influence in politics, said Saturday the election of a new president was a "test case" for the Turkish military's respect for democracy.
"This is a clear test case whether the Turkish armed forces respect democratic secularization and democratic values," said Olli Rehn, the EU expansion affairs commissioner.
Erdogan held a previously unscheduled meeting with Gul and other ministers at his residence Saturday. He did not immediately comment on the military's statement.
The president can veto legislation, and the prospect of electing a leading member of the pro-Islamic government has unnerved Turkey's secular establishment. Hundreds of thousands of people recently demonstrated for secular ideals in the capital, Ankara, and another large rally was planned in Istanbul Sunday.
"It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces is one of the sides in this debate and the absolute defender of secularism," the military statement said. "When necessary, they will display their attitudes and actions very clearly. No one should doubt that."
The opposition, angered that the ruling party had nominated a member of the Islamic-rooted party ignoring calls for a compromise candidate, boycotted Friday's vote and appealed its validity in the Constitutional Court based on a technicality.
If the Constitutional Court rules in favor of the ruling party, Gul is likely to win in the third round when only a simple majority is required. He has promised to uphold the country's secular traditions amid concerns that his victory will strengthen the role of Islam in politics.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who steps down on May 16, vigorously used his powers as a check on the government, vetoing a record number of legislative bills and appointments of officials.
The ruling party has supported religious schools and tried to lift the ban on Islamic head scarves in public offices. Secularists are also uncomfortable with the idea of Gul's wife, Hayrunisa, being in the presidential palace because she wears the traditional Muslim head scarf.
Both Gul and Erdogan, however, reject the Islamic label. The government has shown openness to the West by securing economic stability with help from the International Monetary Fund, and seeking European Union membership.
The military statement listed a series of public events where it said Islam had encroached on secular traditions. It also expressed concern over the brutal slayings of three Christians in the eastern city of Malatya earlier this month.
