The president can run for presidency again, why not?

22.08.2014 Vatan
Translated by: factsinturkey.org / factsinturkey.org/the-president-can-run-for-presidency-again-why-not/
Orjinal Metin (tr-7/30/2012)

The speaker of the president, Ahmet Sever, answered Rusen Cakir’s questions and expressed that Gul was very saddened and offended by the attempts to prevent his candidacy.  “The president diligently avoided creating an impression of a clash with the prime minister, and still does.  However, it wasn’t pleasant that the same diligence was not shown by the important members of the party and they talked without reservation.” he said.
Abdullah Gul is about to fill his fifth year in Cankaya Palace.  How did these five years pass?  Will Gul run again?  What will he do if he is not elected the second time?  Will he return to politics?  Or will he take the helm of some international organization?  These are the popular question of recent times that I directed to one of the closest people to Gul, presidential advisor of media, Ahmet Sever.

- An interesting period passed after Abdullah Gul’s election in 2007 presidential elections.  What happened back then?
It was a very tense and painful period.  Very serious lobbying took place.  Abdullah Gul was subject to intense pressure for withdrawing his candidacy, for not becoming the president.  Names you wouldn’t believe, visited and said “Withdraw your candidacy or this will not end well.”

- As a continuation of the April 27th memorandum?
Yes, there were warnings such as “if you become the president the tensions will peak and there will be a coup consequently”. However, Gul ignored these and he showed a determined stance. Moreover, he said “I have placed my head on this, there is no turning back.” In fact he wasn’t very keen on being the president but he had to. He was chosen as a candidate and then followed the April 27th memorandum and the general elections… After all these, he wouldn’t be able to step back anyways. After the past 5 years I don’t know what those people think but there was no coup nor the tensions peaked. On the contrary, the president’s office as well as the president himself worked hard to soften any tensions in the country. I think those who lobbied around coup scenarios must have looked at this performance and felt a bit ashamed.

- He seemed to be uncomfortable about the uncertainty  of his service period but he never said anything binding.
Can we think he wouldn’t be uncomfortable? For the president who is always defending Turkey as a predictable country in the foreign lands, it was impossible to explain the uncertainty around his service time. He has expressed his worries by saying that this uncertainty should end as soon as possible. However, the uncertainty has continued up until the last moment and this has saddened the president.

- In the end, with the decision of the constitution court, we reached a point between the two options, that is, the term will be 7 years but Gul will be able to run again. Which one of these options would have Mr. Gul wanted ?
He did not spell his own choice. He always thought that: “I will comply with anything, and meanwhile, I will try to do my job as best as I can.” His approach has always been that way.

- He has a right to run again, but at this point, there is an impression as if he would not run again. There are even speculations for him to be the chairman of some international organizations…
An international duty is nothing but imputation to him. He never had such a demand, it didn’t even cross his mind. I can tell you clearly that all of these are imputation. Of course, everyone wonders what he is going to do next: Will he run again, otherwise what will he do? He does not give any hint or sign, prefers not talking. He only says: “We will look into it when the right time is right.”

But time is running out…
That means he thinks it is not yet the time to discuss this.

What do you think?
During this process, there were things that really saddened the President.  He did not express but he was not comfortable with the prohibition of himself being nominated a second time. Some people even called the Constitutional Court`s decision that simply says this ban is against the constitution, is actually against the constitution. The President always made a point of not conflicting with the prime minister. But it was not nice that some high ranking party members did not show the similar care and discussed the issue recklessly. This is my personal view: Constitutional Court decided that the President can run for it, so why not? At the end it is his decision, and -maybe he’ll be angry that I`m saying this- but it is not fair to impose now already that  he will move aside. It is generating resentment to talk sloppily about a person who took critical place in the establishment of the party and served as prime minister, foreign affairs minister and deputy prime minister.
Here, I would like to draw your attention to another point: Some polls are coming out. For example, in a newspaper, a survey asking “Who should be president?” has been published; there is a vote for everyone on the survey, but not a single one for Abdullah Gul. It is hard to understand how this is possible. In another newspaper, in a poll published in March, Mr.President comes out first, but they repeat the poll 3 months later, things go haywire, votes go down. What caused this dramatic change in three months? Let me tell you this much: These things are not elegant at all.
Is it possible for him to descend from a neutral position to party politics? There are rumors that the Prime Minister will rise to presidency, and Mr.Gul will be the next Prime Minister.
As I said before, he is not commenting on this issue, he is not giving any sign, and is very discreet. It is understandable that he is not talking about it publicly, but he is not discussing it even with us.

Destek olmak ister misiniz?
Doğru haber, özgün ve özgür yorum ihtiyacı
Bugün dünyada gazeteciler birer aktivist olmaya zorlanıyor. Bu durum, kutuplaşmanın alabildiğine keskin olduğu Türkiye'de daha fazla karşımıza çıkıyor. Halbuki gazeteci, elinden geldiğince, doğru haber ile özgün ve özgür yorumla toplumun tüm kesimlerine ulaşmaya çalışmalı ve bu yolla, kutuplaşmayı artırma değil azaltmayı kendine hedef edinmeli. Devamı için

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