SECULAR STATE SUSPENDED?

By ROD USHER

He is a populist, pro-Islamic politician whose party did not field a single female candidate in the last elections; she is a decidedly secular, right-wing former Prime Minister who got her husband to take her surname. Odd couplings are common in politics, but the union of Necmettin Erbakan and Tansu Ciller is especially curious. Last week Erbakan became the head of the first Islamist-majority coalition government in Turkey since Kemal Ataturk declared it a secular state in 1923. In two years' time, Erbakan is due to hand over power to Ciller and her True Path Party. The deal was ratified during a parliamentary vote of confidence that provoked the wildest scenes the National Assembly has seen in many years.

The ascension of an Islamist party to power, according to the Turkish Daily News, was viewed in some circles as "the end of the world." But Erbakan and Ciller quickly set about trying to reassure everyone that there is nothing to fear from an Islamist-led government. Turkey is a member of NATO and a crucial ally of the U.S.'s in a dangerous part of the world, so Western diplomats were the particular targets of soothing words. Erbakan is a pragmatist, and while he has often denounced NATO and the West, he has now backed away from his Islamic hyperbole.

This spirit of accommodation has extended to his new partner. In recent months, Erbakan initiated corruption investigations against Ciller. Now he may backpedal on those probes, and presumably Ciller will no longer describe an alliance with Erbakan's Welfare Party (Refah) as "plunging the country into darkness." There is nothing quite like the opportunity to take high office to make people see past their differences.

--By Rod Usher. Reported by Mehmed Ali Kislali and James Wilde/Ankara

With reporting by MEHMED ALI KISLALI AND JAMES WILDE/ANKARA