FILE - In this Oct. 2012 file photo, professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OIC, speaks in Istanbul, Turkey.
Two of Turkey's main opposition parties will field a joint candidate in the country's upcoming presidential election - selecting a former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for a race in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to run.
The opposition secular Republican People's Party, or CHP, and the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, agreed on former OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as their candidate in the Aug. 10 election. It will be the first time a Turkish president is elected directly by the people rather than by parliament.
"It is a great courtesy to be a focal point in this compromise. I welcome CHP and MHP's joint decision with gratitude and respect," the state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Ihsanoglu, an academic and diplomat, as saying Monday.
Erdogan has not yet announced his candidacy but is widely expected to do so.