ANKARA, November 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The new Turkish government, formed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), on Thursday, November 28, won a vote of confidence in parliament and moved swiftly to prepare its first laws - a set of reforms to strengthen Turkey's E.U. bid.

The government of Prime Minister Abdullah Gul received support from 346 of the 516 members of parliament present in the 550-seat parliament, while 170 legislators voted against.

"It is now time to get down to work," Gul said after the voting.

He reiterated that the AKP would not discriminate between the people of this mainly Muslim but strictly secular nation.

In an overwhelming victory, the AKP won 363 seats in the November 3 election, ousting most prominent mainstream politicians from parliament.

The only other party which made it to parliament is the staunchly secular Republican People's Party, which won 178 seats.

The AKP was founded last year by moderate members of the banned Islamic Welfare party of former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan.

The AKP has singled out joining the European Union as its priority.

AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, legally barred from becoming prime minister, wrapped up Wednesday, November 27, a whirlwind tour of 12 E.U. countries to drum up support for Turkey's E.U. bid.

Deputy Prime Minister Ertugrul Yalcinbayir said Thursday the government was planning to submit to parliament by next Tuesday a draft package of democracy reforms aimed at boosting Turkey's membership prospects.

The draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, calls for tighter measures against torture by security forces and allows for the retrial of several jailed former members of parliament from Turkey's large Kurdish minority.

The reform bill aims to make it easier to prosecute police officers accused of torture.

It scraps the statute of limitations for cases of torture, which had led to many lawsuits been thrown out and drawn E.U. criticism.

Another proposal enables prisoners - under certain conditions - to ask for retrial if the European Court of Human Rights speaks out against their sentences.

Several former Kurdish MPs jailed in 1994 for aiding armed Kurdish rebels are expected to benefit from the amendment.

Among them is Leyla Zana, who won the E.U. Parliament's 1995 human rights award.

The bill would also make it more difficult to ban political parties.

This would help the AKP, which is itself under the threat of being banned.

Turkey's chief prosecutor has asked the constitutional court to outlaw the AKP on the grounds that its leader Erdogan cannot be party chairman due to a past conviction.

The bill extends the rights of detainees and suspects and eases restrictions on the press, civic groups and non-Muslim religious foundations.

The government aims to have the reforms adopted in time for the E.U. enlargement summit in Copenhagen December 12-13.

Turkey, the only country among the 13 candidates which has yet to start membership negotiations, wants to be given a start date for talks at the summit.

Last August, Turkey passed a series of major reforms, including the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of cultural freedoms for the Kurdish minority.