The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by vaporlock.

The latest on this story:

Turkey to call general election:

The AK party is still backing Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, as its presidential candidate [AFP]. Turkey's parliamentary constitutional committee has recommended that general elections be brought forward from November to July. The electoral board made the decision on Wednesday after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, requested that general elections be held to end a political deadlock over the election of a new president. The decision still needs to be approved by parliament which is likely to meet on Thursday to discuss the proposal. Erdogan had asked for elections to be held on June 24, but the committee settled instead on July 22. Senior members of the AK party had called for national elections to be brought forward from November to June 24 in order to resolve a stand-off with the country's military. "Bringing forward the general election will reduce uncertainty," Bulent Arinc, a senior AK Party member and parliamentary speaker, told a news conference on Wednesday. "[The decision] will meet our people's expectation for trust and stability." The AKP appeared to be hoping that its success in promoting economic growth and pushing down inflation would see it returned to power with a renewed and strengthened mandate. Erdogan also said that he was considering changing the constitution to enable the president to be elected directly by a popular vote.

Presidential elections:

Also on Wednesday, Turkey's parliament ratified a timetable for electing a president that was put forward by the country's ruling Justice and Development party (AK party). MPs from the 550-seat parliament will vote on Sunday in the first of four rounds of voting that will culminate in the election of a new president, parliament ruled on Wednesday. The decision to hold a re-run of the first round of voting came a day after the Constitutional Court ruled that a similar vote held last week was invalid because not enough members of parliament had been present. Senior members of the army threatened on Friday to intervene in politics if the AK party moved to dismantle or weaken the country's secular constitution.

Constitutional crisis:

Parliament held the first of four rounds of vote to elect a new president last Friday.
Abdullah Gul, the AK party candidate, won the largest share of the vote but failed to achieve the required quorum after opposition parties boycotted the vote and failed to put forward their own candidate. The opposition parties - mainly composed of secularist, pro-army parties - then argued that the vote was invalid and appealed to the country's constitutional court to consider ordering a re-run. On Tuesday, the court ruled in the favour of the opposition parties and said that the vote must be repeated."

(Al-Jazeera 3/5/2007)