ISTANBUL, May 13 (IslamOnline.net) - The Turkish parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a higher education law allowing graduates of religious schools to join universities, despite the opposition of the powerful military and secular forces.

Of the 258 lawmakers who attended the stormy session, 254 voted "yes" to the bill against four dissenting voices.

The 11-article bill allows easing restrictions on graduates of Islamic schools in obtaining university degrees other than in divinity studies, thus opening the way for them to hold public offices.

It also curtails the military's influence on the supreme council of higher education, and stipulates that no army general should be allowed to attend its sessions.

"It is an attempt to develop technical education, granting more freedom to universities and meeting the country's pledges to the European Union," National Education Minister Huseyin Celik said after the vote.

The European Commission will draft a report on Turkey's membership prospects in June, with E.U. leaders expected to decide in December whether the country can start accession talks.

However, the opposition claimed that the new law was "politically-motivated" used as a "cover-up" to strengthen the position of the religious schools in the country.

It has drawn objection from the opposition parties and the army, keen to keep a secular system in the predominantly-Muslim country.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) led a campaign of protest against the measure before the Thursday vote and threatened to take the issue to the Constitutional Court.

The party members offered 43 proposals mostly for pulling out the bill, and walked out of the session to reduce the number of lawmakers needed to vote on the bill.

But the plan did not work out, as members of another opposition party, the Right Path (DYP), which has four seats in the 550-seat parliament, gave the thumps-up weighing balance in favor of the ruling party.

The army had also warned the government not to go ahead with a measure which it sees as a threat to the principles of the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

The bill still needs the ratification of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to be enforced.

A strictly secular former lawyer, Sezer is expected to refuse the bill.

In that event, the government could return to parliament for a second vote and the head of state would no longer have the right to withhold his signature.

The president could, however, ask the constitutional court to declare the bill unlawful.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to meet with Sezer and Chief of Staff Hilmi Ozkouk within hours to convince them of vote results.

"It is an effort to dissuade the leaders of the country and the army from risking a rift (after the parliament's approval), something Erdogan would stress to have negative impact on the country's economy and stability," said political analyst Mohamed Ali Brand.

Erdogan, a graduate of a religious school, promised to reform the education system before the election on November 2002 which swept his party to power with two-thirds of the parliament 550 seats.