The Turkish parliament has given initial approval to overturning a constitutional ban which is preventing the leader of the party that won last month's elections becoming prime minister.

The leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is barred from public office because of a previous conviction for Islamist sedition.

Non-inclusion of Turkey to the European Union will not be the end of the world. We will definitely find a way out

AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Deputies from the centre-left opposition joined those in the governing party in voting for the ban to apply only to those convicted of terrorist charges, not ideological activities such as those for which Mr Erdogan was convicted in 1998.

The change was part of a package of measures to bring Turkey into line with European Union norms.

The package is expected to receive formal approval in a further round of voting on Wednesday.

The president must then approve the changes for them to become law.

The assembly also considered new rules on by-elections to allow for polls, probably in February, in the province of Siirt.

Electoral officials earlier this month cancelled election results there because of voting irregularities.

The AKP said on Monday Mr Erdogan would stand in Siirt.

Nafta option

Mr Erdogan, who is in the US for talks with US President George W Bush, on Wednesday said Turkey could the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) if its bid to enter the EU was rejected.

Mr Bush strongly backed Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

EU member countries are due to discuss enlargement of the union this weekend, although Turkey is not expected to be given a firm date for entry negotiations to take place.

Ankara wants negotiations with the EU to begin in 2003, but is not opposed to starting them by mid-2004 provided that a clear date is given.

However, most EU countries back a Franco-German proposal for talks to start in 2005, on condition that Turkey has passed an interim review.