Turkey lines up presidential poll

If Mr Gul does decide to run for president he faces stiff opposition

The Turkish parliament has approved a timetable for presidential elections.

This comes three months after secular opposition parties blocked the governing party's candidate, Abdullah Gul, a devout Muslim.

Voting for the new president will take place on 20 August, with a second round four days later and the third round on 28 August.

Mr Gul denies having an Islamist agenda and has already hinted that he hopes to stand in the new election.

An attempt in May by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to have Mr Gul, his foreign minister, elected president, plunged Turkey into a political crisis and early general elections, from which Mr Erdogan emerged as the clear victor.

A decision by Mr Gul to stand again may result in more confrontation with secularists who are suspicious of the governing AK Party's Islamist roots.

Meanwhile a bomb explosion at a court in the Turkish capital, Ankara, has shattered several windows but caused no injuries.

The bomb had been left in a corridor near rooms used by prosecutors. It is not known who is responsible for the attack.