The Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, today failed to win sufficient support to become president in the first round of voting in parliament. But Mr Gul, suspected by secularists of harbouring an Islamist agenda, is expected to prevail next week in further voting, when a parliamentary majority will suffice. Mr Gul, who has pledged to protect Turkey's secular basis, received 341 votes, short of the two-thirds majority of 367 required to clinch victory in the first round.