EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the controversy was a test case for the military to respect democracy.

After a disputed vote by MPs, the army said it would defend Turkey's secular system. In the first round of voting, the ruling AK party's candidate, Abdullah Gul, narrowly failed to win. Gul, who is also foreign minister, secured 357 votes . . . just 10 short of the figure needed to win in the first round. The main secular opposition party boycotted the vote and said it would challenge the election in court.

Rehn was speaking after a meeting on the EU's troubled relations with Turkey.

Turkey is an EU candidate but entry negotiations have been partially frozen because of a dispute over Cyprus. The EU is also concerned over Turkey's commitment to political reform.

The enlargement commissioner said it was important that the military left democracy to the democratically-elected government. "This is a clear test case whether the Turkish armed forces respect democratic secularization and democratic values, " he said.

"The timing is rather surprising and strange. It's important that the military respects also the rules of the democratic game and its own role in that democratic game, " he said.

The army said it was following the election process with concern and would not shy away from defending secularism. In the last 50 years the army has carried out three coups and in 1997 it intervened to force Turkey's first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, from power.

The AK is an offshoot of Erbakan's Welfare Party, which was banned in 1998.

The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) boycotted Friday's vote because it was not consulted on Gul's selection as the AK candidate.

The CHP says it will challenge the vote because only 361 MPs were present. AK says only a third of MPs are required.

A second round of voting is due on Wednesday and the court has said it will try to rule on the appeal before the vote.