Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and former President Abdullah Gül held a surprise meeting in parliament on June 19, the first such meeting since the June 7 general election, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Erdogan and Gul meet in Turkey’s Parliament
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: The meeting came after the two politicians, long-time comrades who were founding members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001, both attended the official ceremony in Ankara for late President Suleyman Demirel, who passed away earlier this week.
The meeting came after the publishing of a book by Ahmet Sever, who served as an advisor to Gul for 12 years, which revealed a number of splits of opinion between Gul and Erdogan.
The book “Abdullah Gul ile 12 Yıl” (12 Years with Abdullah Gul), which hit bookshelves on June 14, paints a portrait of Erdogan and Gul facing a serious split of opinion on a number of key issues, including the government’s Syria policy, the 2013 Gezi Park protests, and free speech.
Gul issued a written statement on June 16 rejecting claims that the book was dictated or approved by him, or that it reflected his personal opinions.
“I did not in any way offer any guidance or intervene during the preparation phase of this book. On the contrary, I even told Ahmet Sever that I was not keen on the idea of publishing the book,” Gul said.
Sever, however, has said that Gul read the whole book, and even made some corrections.
In the book, Sever writes that Gul told Erdoğan and AKP seniors after the spate of illegal wiretappings and corruption probes in 2013 that the accused ministers should either be dismissed or resign.
“If they are sent via a censure motion, then you will be in a difficult position,” Sever quotes Gul as saying in the book.
Nevertheless, he maintained that the four former ministers - Egemen Bağış, Erdoğan Bayraktar, Zafer Chaglayan and Muammer Guler - should be kept out of the cabinet, the book concluded.
The future of these former cabinet members, who were cleared in a parliamentary vote thanks to the AKP’s majority, remains a core issue in today’s coalition talks.
