Erdogan Set to Become Turkey's Prime Minister after Winning By-election

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 10, 2003

Erdogan Set to Become Turkey's Prime Minister after Winning By-election

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the by-elections on Sunday, paving his way to become new prime minister of the country.

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Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the by-elections on Sunday, paving his way to become new prime minister of the country.

The AK Party captured 84.7 percent of the vote in the southern town of Siirt with all of the vote counted, local television quoted Nuri Okutan, the governor of Siirt, as saying.

Three AK Party candidates, Tayyip Erdogan, Oner Gulyesil and Oner Ergenc were all elected, bringing the number of AK Party seats in the 550-seat parliament to 365.

Following the by-election in Siirt, parties' number of seats in

the parliament are as follows: AK Party 365, Republican People's Party (CHP) 177, True Path Party (DYP) 2 and Independent 6.

Erdogan 49, led his AK Party to a landslide general election victory on November 3, but was barred from office by a past conviction of for Islamic subversion and handed the premiership to

his deputy Abdullah Gul.

Gul is expected to resign on Wednesday to make way for Erdogan to take over the government.

Erdogan has advocated for allowing the US to deploy troops in his country against Iraq and his victory might be a good news for Washington.

Analysts say that an Erdogan government will most probably again present a motion that will allow the United States to deploy

troops in Turkey's territory to the parliament for a vote.

Earlier on Sunday, the Anatolian News Agency reported that Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis has rejected a time frame for

a second government motion on US troop deployment.

After a meeting at the Prime Ministry Office on foreign policy on Saturday, Yakis said, "Ankara should complete its assessments about a possible military action against Iraq before taking a decision to submit the second motion to parliament."

Referring to reports claiming that US congressmen have offered some guarantees to Turkey, Yakis said, "We do not expect guarantee

from anyone. However, we have been assessing all factors."

On March 1, Turkey's parliament rejected the deployment of US soldiers in its territory, crippling Washington's plan to launch a

northern front against Iraq. But the United States said it will still be able to succeed in war on Iraq even without a northern front.

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