Meet Mr. Secular

ISTANBUL: When it comes to guaranteeing Turkey's secular future, the Turkish military reckons it's better to be safe than sorry. That means President Suleyman Demirel's choice for prime minister of the NATO member country is Motherland Party leader Mesut Yilmaz, whose minority opposition party holds just 129 seats in the 550-seat parliament. While critics say Yilmaz doesn't have the political brokering skills necessary to forge a viable government, there's no doubting his aversion to Libya and the rise of domestic Islamic fundamentalism. Maybe that's enough for now: the military booted out Prime Minister Necmetting Erbakan on Wednesday for disagreeing with those positions. NATO will like him for those positions, but he's going to have a hard time holding on.