Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said tonight his government would seek an early parliamentary election on either June 24th or July 1st in a bid to break the current political paralysis.
A demonstrator is taken to a police van after he was detained during protests in Istanbul today
Mr Erdogan also told a televised news conference his ruling AK Party, locked in a dispute with secularist opponents over its choice of presidential candidate, wanted the Turkish people, not parliament, to elect the country's president.
He said the centre-right, Islamist-rooted AK Party wanted to reduce the term of parliament to four years from the current five years.
He added that he had reassured the European Union that Turkey would return "to a normal democratic process" following his decision to call an early election.
He also said he expected Turkish financial markets to improve in the next few days with "our positive steps in politics".
The AK Party earlier decided to postpone tomorrow's planned second round of voting in parliament on its presidential candidate, a senior party member said this evening.
Secular opposition parties had brought a court case against the vote to stop foreign minister Abdullah Gul from winning. They say his election would threaten Turkey's secular tradition.
The country's Islamist-rooted government said earlier it would put its presidential candidate to a new vote in parliament tomorrow, after the Constitutional Court annulled a ballot held last week.
Turkish financial markets recorded their biggest falls in a year yesterday and the currency lost more ground today as the standoff rocked the predominantly Muslim European Union candidate nation.
The Constitutional Court ruled not enough parliamentarians were present when the first round was held in the assembly last week. "What we have cancelled is the first round of voting," Hasim Kilic, deputy head of the court, told reporters.
Riot police today beat and detained hundreds of May Day protesters in Istanbul. Police detained 700 people in Istanbul in street battles with leftist demonstrators protesting on the May Day anniversary of a mass shooting 30 years ago by unknown gunmen.
Riot police fired tear gas and used water canons to break up the crowds. Youths threw Molotov cocktails and set cars ablaze.