The European Union warned the Turkish army on Saturday not to interfere in the country's democratic process amid a dispute over the ruling party's Islamist-rooted candidate to be Turkey's next president.
"It is important that the military leaves the remit of democracy to the democratically elected government," EU Enlargement Commissioner, Ollie Rehn, said in a statement.
His comments follows an army warning issued on Friday that the military would defend Turkey's secularist system after parliament failed to approve the ruling party's candidate for president.
"This is a test case if the Turkish armed forces respect democratic secularism and the democratic arrangement of civil-military relations," Rehn said.
In Friday's first round of voting, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) candidate, Abdullah Gul, narrowly failed to win.
Gul, who is also foreign minister, secured 357 votes - just 10 short of the 367, or two thirds of all deputies needed to win in the first round.
The main secular opposition party boycotted the vote and said it would challenge the election in court.
In its statement released late Friday, the military accused the AKP, the offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement, of failing to prevent rising anti-secular activity in the country.
Analysts said Friday's extraordinarily harsh statement was an "ultimatum" that could result in early general elections, and a clear indication that the powerful military does not welcome Gul as president.
