ANKARA, 25 April 2007 — Turkey’s Islamist-rooted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday named Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as the ruling party candidate for president, following harsh secularist objections to his own reported ambitions.
The choice of Gul, a moderate and widely respected politician, is seen as a bid to compromise with the army-backed secularist establishment, but may not stamp out all objections since Gul also comes from an Islamist background.
Hundreds of thousands of people staged a rally in Ankara this month in an unprecedented demonstration to discourage Erdogan from running for president, worried that he would undermine the secular foundations of the state. The army had also issued a subtle warning to him.
Gul, 56, is virtually certain to become president thanks to the 353-seat majority the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) holds in the 550-member Parliament, which will elect the president.
Gul’s wife wears the head scarf, which is seen as the symbol of political Islam and in an immediate sign that his candidacy would not be free of controversy, Gul urged respect for those who wear it. “The head scarf is a personal choice and everyone should respect it,” he said when asked about his wife. “In democracies, everyone has individual rights and freedoms. If you see it as such, the problem will be resolved.”
Gul is seen as a more acceptable candidate to the secularists. By standing aside, Erdogan, Turkey’s most popular politician, can also focus on preparing and campaigning for a general election that must be held by November. “After all our research and discussions for the 11th president, our dear Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has been proposed for the presidency,” Erdogan told an ecstatic gathering of AK Party lawmakers in Parliament.
Secularists hate the prospect of seeing someone in a head scarf at the presidential palace. Its first occupant, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founded modern Turkey in 1923 on staunchly nonreligious principles.
Erdogan pledged the new president would be committed to secularism. “Parliament will elect a president who will be fully impartial, just, committed to the contemporary ideals of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the values of the Republic,” he told the AKP parliamentary group as he announced Gul’s candidacy.
The AKP aims “to preserve Turkey’s stability, to strengthen democracy and solidify the gains of the Republic,” he said. Erdogan never openly declared presidential ambitions, but nor did he deny that he intended to run. Many AKP members were concerned that without their charismatic leader at the helm, the party might lose support in general elections scheduled for November.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which has threatened to boycott the presidential vote, hailed Erdogan’s decision as “a victory of democracy” in Turkey. “It is obvious that he gave up because he is not wanted by the people,” CHP leader Deniz Baykal said. “He was taught a great lesson in democracy.”
The first round in the presidential election is scheduled for Friday, the second for May 2, the third for May 9 and the fourth for May 15. Parliament elects the president for a single, seven-year term. The winner requires a two-thirds majority of 367 in the first two rounds.
