Turkish politics

I know next to nothing about Turkish politics, but somehow this news sounds rather ominous:

Turkey's highest court has ruled the first round of presidential elections invalid, raising the possibility of early national elections.

Another round of presidential polls would instead be held in parliament on Wednesday, the government said on Tuesday.

The Constitutional Court upheld on Tuesday an appeal from the secularist opposition that wants to stop Abdullah Gul, the ruling Islamist-rooted AK party's candidate and foreign minister, becoming head of state.

Hasim Kilic, deputy head of the court, told a news conference: "A decision was taken to stop the process."

The court ruled that 367 members of parliament had to be present during voting for it to be valid.

Only 361 deputies voted in last Friday's presidential ballot, 357 of them for Gul, the sole candidate.

The court ruled that this number was insufficient and that the small turnout rendered the vote invalid. The court's decision is final and cannot be over-ruled.

Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, could now propose a different candidate for the job.

Army's role

The army has publicly threatend to intervene in politics to prevent an Islamist president from the threatening the country's secular constitution and identity.

The military, which sees itself as the final guarantor of the secular state, has ousted four governments in the past 50 years, most recently in 1997 when it acted against a cabinet in which Gul served.

Just what we need is another unstable state right next to Iraq.