ANKARA, 16 August 2007 — Turkey’s presidential candidate Abdullah Gul said yesterday he anticipated no problems with the powerful military over his wife’s head scarf and insisted the constitution guaranteed her freedom to wear it.
Gul also vowed to be apolitical if he is elected president, in a bid to quell deep misgivings within the secular establishment over his Islamist past. “If I am elected, the basic tenets of the constitution shall be my guide,” Gul told reporters a day after formally announcing that he will run for president a second time. “I will shed my political personality, be impartial and embrace all citizens,” he added.
Turkey’s secular elite, including the generals, opposes Foreign Minister Gul’s bid for the top job because of his Islamist past and the fact his wife Hayrunisa covers her head. The head scarf, seen by secularists as a threat to the separation of state and religion, is banned from public offices and schools, though more than half of Turkish women wear it.
Asked whether the army might raise objections over the head scarf, Gul told reporters: “Turkey is a country governed by laws... The constitution guarantees basic human rights, including the right to dress as one pleases.”
The newly triumphant prime minister issued thinly veiled warnings to the military and non-religious opposition yesterday, saying interfering in presidential elections would show a lack of respect for Turkish voters. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended Gul, a devout Muslim, as “the ideal candidate” for the presidency.
Critics have expressed fears that Gul would help his ally, Erdogan, chip away at the separation of state and religion in Turkey. Erdogan said Gul, whose election is almost certain, would watch over the “sensitivities of Turkey.”
Erdogan, who resigned after his Islamic-rooted party swept to victory in polls last month, said he would submit a new and expanded Cabinet for approval to the current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, today. Sezer, a staunch secularist, has in the past objected to several names proposed by Erdogan.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) won 46.6 percent of the votes in early elections, which were provoked by Gul’s initial decision to stand for president, which in turn prompted the powerful military to threaten to intervene. “If there is a back-sliding in democracy it would have serious effects on the economy,” Erdogan warned yesterday. “The will of the people that was reflected in the ballot boxes must be respected.”
The AK Party has been praised for its willingness to pursue Western-style reforms to strengthen the economy and join the European Union. Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the military, has said: “We hope that someone who is loyal to the principles of the republic — not just in words but in essence — is elected president.”
Turkey’s leading secular party, the Republican People’s Party, said Tuesday it would boycott the presidential vote because Gul’s Islamic past threatens the secular regime.
The Republican People’s Party’s boycott cannot stop Gul’s election, but it shows the distress felt by the secular establishment about his candidacy.
The secularist opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has snubbed Gul’s request for talks and says it will boycott state receptions if he is elected.
But other opposition parties have taken a more constructive line and have said they will attend the voting sessions, ensuring the AK Party has a quorum for the election to be valid.
The army has not commented on Gul’s decision to run again. But analysts say it will watch Gul’s actions very closely and note it has always reserved the right to intervene in the political arena if secularism is deemed to be in danger.
Just 10 years ago, the military, with strong public backing, ousted a government in which Gul served because it was seen as too Islamist. But things are very different now. Erdogan’s government is popular, having won 47 percent of the vote in July’s elections, and the economy is strong.
Gul tried to drum up support from labor unions and business leaders yesterday for his candidacy, a day after lodging his formal application and holding talks with opposition parties.
He reaffirmed his commitment to Turkey’s secular order and vowed to act as an impartial head of state.
“The president represents the unity of the state... The president must have equal distance from everybody and observe the principle of impartiality,” Gul said.
