Turkey has new President

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was sworn in as Turkey's President yesterday despite the objections of a powerful military that fears a creeping subversion of the country's secular order under the former Islamist.

Mr Gul, who enjoys popular support, is the first politician with a background in political Islam to win the symbolically important post in Turkey's modern history.

In contrast to past inaugurations, the army top brass and much of the secular elite, including the main opposition Republican People's Party, stayed away from Mr Gul's swearing-in ceremony.