Erdogan named as Turkish PM

Erdogan named as Turkish PM

Erdogan won a resounding by-election victory

Turkey's ruling party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been named as prime minister, days after winning a by-election - clearing the way for a fresh vote on US troop deployment.

The president asked him to form a government after the resignation of Abdullah Gul, who had held the post since the Justice and Development (AK) Party swept to victory last November.

Mr Erdogan's arrival in the top job is expected to lead to a fresh parliamentary vote on whether to allow the deployment of tens of thousands of US troops in any war against Iraq.

The deployment was narrowly defeated in parliament on 1 March.

Once Mr Erdogan has formed his new cabinet, a second parliamentary vote can be expected in the coming days.

Aid package

The deployment is crucial to US war plans, opening the option of a northern front against Iraq.

But it is also vital to Turkey's economic future, as the US deployment is tied to a multi-billion-dollar aid and grants package.

Mr Gul confirmed shortly before standing down that the new government would consider reintroducing the failed motion.

Speaking after his by-election victory, Mr Erdogan said there might not be such a vote for several days.

After discussing the matter on Sunday with the American ambassador in Ankara, Robert Pearson, he said the role Turkey would play in Iraq still needed to be clarified.

'Religious hatred'

At the time of the November election, Turkish law banned Mr Erdogan from holding office because of a past conviction for inciting religious hatred.

Despite not formally holding power, Mr Erdogan has been widely seen as wielding the real power in the intervening months.

Mr Gul stepped down after Mr Erdogan, who won a seat in a by-election on Sunday, was sworn in as a member of parliament.

Parliament had to change the constitution to allow him to stand for election despite his conviction, which he earned for reciting a well-known poem comparing mosques to barracks, and minarets to bayonets.

Mr Gul will stay on as caretaker PM until Mr Erdogan has formed a new cabinet.