Turkish army chief seeks to play down Gul tensions

ANKARA (Reuters) - The head of Turkey's powerful armed forces sought to play down accusations on Thursday that he was giving the newly-elected President Abdullah Gul the cold shoulder because of his past in political Islam.

Gul was elected president on Tuesday to the irritation of the military, which along with the secular elite had sought for months to stop the former foreign minister becoming head of state and commander-in-chief.

Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit stayed away from Gul's swearing-in ceremony in parliament on Tuesday and on Wednesday failed to greet the president according to protocol at military graduation ceremony.

"Don't ascribe it special meaning (to the Wednesday greeting)," CNN Turk broadcaster quoted Buyukanit as telling reporters at a military reception in the capital Ankara.

The military, which sees itself as the ultimate defender of secularism, has pushed four governments from office since 1960.

The military and the secular elite, including judges and some opposition leaders, fear Gul's presidency will lead to a creeping subversion of the secular order. Gul denies this.

Buyukanit's comments at the Victory Day celebrations at military headquarters were the first public ones since Gul was elected president.

"We have our principles, but the country will say they have had enough of this and so let's not talk about this anymore," broadcaster NTV quoted him as saying.

Television images showed Buyukanit chatting with Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose wives were not invited because they wear the Muslim headscarf, which secularists see as a provocative symbol of religion.

On Monday, the day before Gul was elected president by parliament, Buyukanit rattled financial markets by saying secularism was being eroded by "centers of evil".