ISTANBUL: Turkey's ruling AK Party will announce its presidential candidate on July 1, a party official told Reuters on Tuesday. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is expected to be named.

Last week, the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said they had agreed to nominate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who stepped down in December as head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).