Turkish opposition accepts compromise on president

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's main opposition party on Tuesday agreed to an offer by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to seek a compromise candidate to elect as the next head of state after months of wrangling.

The ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party lost a battle with the secular elite, including opposition parties, generals and senior judges, to have its candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, elected in parliament in May, triggering a political crisis.

Parliament has now postponed the presidential contest until after a parliamentary election on July 22.

"The prime minister's words about compromise are a positive development ... We should find a candidate that could be supported by politicians, society and the armed forces," Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal told leading Hurriyet newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

The CHP successfully blocked the appointment of Gul on the grounds that the party had not been consulted over the AK Party's candidate and over concerns about Gul's Islamist past.

Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunch secularist and frequent critic of the government, remains in office until a new president is elected.

"The election of the president has greatly divided the people. We should select someone who has been outside of politics for a period," Baykal said.

Erdogan was quoted by Turkish media on Tuesday as saying his party wanted a compromise with the opposition over the next president.

Opinion polls show that the AK Party will win a landslide re-election to parliament on July 22, although it will not get a two-thirds majority to be enable it to amend the constitution and pick a president without opposition support.