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GUL AGAIN HINTS AT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT TO RIVAL ERDOGAN
November 4, 2013 - 14:29 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, has again
hinted he is prepared to challenge the country's authoritarian Prime
Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in presidential elections next summer
that could decide the increasingly vexed question of who runs Turkey.
Asked during an exclusive weekend interview with the Guardian
whether he would seek a second term, Gul said it was too early to
make a decision. When pressed, he declined to rule out his candidacy,
saying he was keeping "all options open".
Erdogan has served three consecutive terms as prime minister since
2003, during which time he transformed Turkey's economy and its
international standing but has been heavily criticized for perceived
dictatorial tendencies.
Under rules adopted by his neo-Islamist Justice and Development party
(AK), Erdogan is barred from seeking a fourth term as an MP. But
he has done little to discourage speculation that he may seek the
presidency next year, when the winner will be elected for the first
time by popular vote.
Speaking in a television interview last month, Erdogan indicated he
would stand for president if nominated. "Whatever duty my party burdens
me with, whatever it wishes of me, I will Endeavour to do it," he said.
Yet for Erdogan to achieve his aim, the popular Gul, a former foreign
minister and political moderate who became president in 2007, would
have to agree to voluntarily make way - and it is increasingly unclear
whether he will. A job swap has also been floated, with Gul moving to
the prime minister's office while Erdogan takes on a presidency with
enhanced powers, following the model created last year by Russia's
Vladimir Putin and the former president, Dmitri Medvedev, the Guardian
says. But a growing divergence of views over the government's handling
of last summer's violent street protests, and over what Gul calls
Turkey's "democratic deficit" and the "normalization" of Islamic
values within Turkey's secular constitutional framework, has prompted
suggestions that the two men, who together have dominated the Turkish
political scene for more than a decade, may soon turn on each other.
Speaking to the Guardian, Gul insisted Erdogan was a friend, not a
rival, and dismissed talk of policy rifts over his more inclusive
stance on issues such as alcohol use and when Muslim women may wear
the headscarf.
"We established the ruling party together with Tayyip Erdogan,
we're the founders of the party. We took the party to government
together and we changed Turkey together. Erdogan is a friend and we
have worked shoulder to shoulder with him in the course of all these
years," Gul said.
But he reiterated his support for peaceful protests, for official
investigations into police conduct, and for his view that Turkish
society needed greater openness.
"There is a democratic deficit in Turkey, in other words we have a
way to go in taking our standards and criteria further," Gul said.
Much had been achieved, but there was still more to do, he said,
referring to his recent speech in Izmir when he called for a second
generation of social and legal reforms.
Opinion is divided over whether Gul will launch a serious challenge
to Erdogan's dominance. Some observers say that he is carefully
positioning himself for a run at a second term, but others disagree.
"Gul talks a lot but he does not do anything," a leading Istanbul
businesswoman and political insider said. "They are playing good
cop, bad cop like they always do. This is a winning team. Why change
the team?"
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/172174/
November 4, 2013 - 14:29 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, has again
hinted he is prepared to challenge the country's authoritarian Prime
Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in presidential elections next summer
that could decide the increasingly vexed question of who runs Turkey.
Asked during an exclusive weekend interview with the Guardian
whether he would seek a second term, Gul said it was too early to
make a decision. When pressed, he declined to rule out his candidacy,
saying he was keeping "all options open".
Erdogan has served three consecutive terms as prime minister since
2003, during which time he transformed Turkey's economy and its
international standing but has been heavily criticized for perceived
dictatorial tendencies.
Under rules adopted by his neo-Islamist Justice and Development party
(AK), Erdogan is barred from seeking a fourth term as an MP. But
he has done little to discourage speculation that he may seek the
presidency next year, when the winner will be elected for the first
time by popular vote.
Speaking in a television interview last month, Erdogan indicated he
would stand for president if nominated. "Whatever duty my party burdens
me with, whatever it wishes of me, I will Endeavour to do it," he said.
Yet for Erdogan to achieve his aim, the popular Gul, a former foreign
minister and political moderate who became president in 2007, would
have to agree to voluntarily make way - and it is increasingly unclear
whether he will. A job swap has also been floated, with Gul moving to
the prime minister's office while Erdogan takes on a presidency with
enhanced powers, following the model created last year by Russia's
Vladimir Putin and the former president, Dmitri Medvedev, the Guardian
says. But a growing divergence of views over the government's handling
of last summer's violent street protests, and over what Gul calls
Turkey's "democratic deficit" and the "normalization" of Islamic
values within Turkey's secular constitutional framework, has prompted
suggestions that the two men, who together have dominated the Turkish
political scene for more than a decade, may soon turn on each other.
Speaking to the Guardian, Gul insisted Erdogan was a friend, not a
rival, and dismissed talk of policy rifts over his more inclusive
stance on issues such as alcohol use and when Muslim women may wear
the headscarf.
"We established the ruling party together with Tayyip Erdogan,
we're the founders of the party. We took the party to government
together and we changed Turkey together. Erdogan is a friend and we
have worked shoulder to shoulder with him in the course of all these
years," Gul said.
But he reiterated his support for peaceful protests, for official
investigations into police conduct, and for his view that Turkish
society needed greater openness.
"There is a democratic deficit in Turkey, in other words we have a
way to go in taking our standards and criteria further," Gul said.
Much had been achieved, but there was still more to do, he said,
referring to his recent speech in Izmir when he called for a second
generation of social and legal reforms.
Opinion is divided over whether Gul will launch a serious challenge
to Erdogan's dominance. Some observers say that he is carefully
positioning himself for a run at a second term, but others disagree.
"Gul talks a lot but he does not do anything," a leading Istanbul
businesswoman and political insider said. "They are playing good
cop, bad cop like they always do. This is a winning team. Why change
the team?"
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/172174/