ANKARA, Turkey, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Koksal Toptan, a secular conservative from the Islamist AK Party, was elected Thursday as speaker of the Turkish Parliament.
Toptan won the post by a 450-74 margin, with support from many of the opposition parties, the BBC reported.
The speaker’s post is considered the most important in the Turkish government after the president. Toptan’s election could smooth the way for the election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as president.
Gul’s failure to win parliamentary approval led to the recent election.
Toptan joined the AKP after serving as culture and education minister under a previous government. Unlike many members of the party, he does not have a long history as an Islamist, and his wife does not wear the headscarf, the BBC said.
