Ideological Gul

Turkish politicians quarrel over presidential candidate

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkey 56-year-old Abdullah Gul will apparently become the country's next president, since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has again nominated him for this post elected by parliament. Yesterday, 56-year-old Gul confirmed his desire to run for the highest government office for the second time this year, submitting a request to the chairman of the Majlis to register as a candidate for the presidential election. He told the press that he considers the protection of secular state principles one of his main principles and intends to help the government in its efforts to ensure Turkey's membership in the European Union.

Let us clarify that the Turkish secular elite considers the AKP to be an Islamic party (it actually has religious roots), and its nominee Gul as a threat to the secular foundations of the state. The General Staff, as their most zealous defender, stated last week that “the president must be a person, not in words, but in deeds, devoted to the ideals of secularism.” Opponents of the current presidential candidate recall that he is the son of an Arab imam, and his wife defiantly wears a Muslim headscarf, which is prohibited in government institutions. Meanwhile, the President of Turkey has considerable powers: he has the right to veto bills and government appointments, which current President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who is close to the generals, has done more than once, irritating AKP leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This spring, the AKP already nominated Gul as a presidential candidate, but deputies from the largest opposition center-left Republican People's Party (CHP) boycotted the vote, which was then declared invalid by the constitutional court due to the lack of a quorum. Gul then withdrew his candidacy, and Erdogan scheduled early parliamentary elections for July 22, which strengthened the position of the AKP in the Majlis.

Now the procedure for electing the president provides for the possibility of holding four rounds of voting - on August 20, 24, 28 and September 1. To win in the first two rounds, the candidate must receive two-thirds, or 367, votes in the 550-seat Majlis, but in subsequent rounds a simple majority is enough - 276. The AKP now has 341 mandates. In addition, the opposition far-right Nationalist Action Party with its 70 deputies promised to participate in the vote, and this allows the AKP to hope for the presence of the necessary quorum (also two-thirds of legislators) and, accordingly, Gul’s victory. In this situation, the leader of the CHP, Deniz Baykal, had no choice (his party has 99 seats in the Majlis) but to warn that “with Gul, a conscious member of the ideological circle, Turkey will become a country with a more pronounced Middle Eastern identity.”

Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN