Turkish PM eligible to run for president: Main opposition MP

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets the legal requirements to run for president, an opposition lawmaker said on Thursday, repudiating a claim that he is not eligible because of a legal obstacle regarding his bachelor's degree.

The main opposition Republican People's Party deputy Aydin Ayaydin -- who also instructed Erdogan at the university -- refuted a claim by Nationalist Movement Party lawmaker Yusuf Halacoglu, who said Erdogan had graduated from a vocational program that offered three years of education and therefore he was legally ineligible to run for president.

According to the Article 101 of the Turkish constitution, "the President of the Republic shall be elected by the public from among the members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey who (...) have completed higher education." 

Regular higher education in Turkey includes four years of education received from university faculties and institutes, although there are also two-year vocational schools established by the Council of Higher Education.

Erdogan did not graduate from a vocational faculty that requires three years of study, but from a faculty granting a bachelor's degree, said Ayaydin. "For this reason, PM Erdogan can run for the presidential elections in August."

Pointing out that he taught Erdogan during his university years, Ayaydin said Erdogan studied at Marmara University's Faculty of Economics and Commercial Sciences between 1978-1981, which was a four-year faculty and granted a bachelor's degree.

Ayaydin said he lectured Erdogan in the "Money and Credit" course as an assistant professor.

Turks will go polls on August 10 to choose their first popularly elected president. The ruling party is expected to announce its candidate in mid-May.