I had a few reasons for thinking this would be the case, starting with the notion that the prime minister would not run. He knows very well what befell Demirel’s and Özal’s parties when they became president. Without him running, the only person who can meet the demands and expectations of the voter base and the party group in Parliament is Gül. Another low-profile candidate would seriously tarnish public confidence in the AK Party. Furthermore Gül is an accomplished foreign minister and a reliable statesman extolled and venerated by both the Islamic world and the Western world. His presidency would make Turkey a more prestigious country. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced Mr. Gül’s candidacy on April 24, and three days later a memorandum was put up on the General Staff’s Web site reviving the Feb. 28 process. The political process saw interventions by the judiciary, the media, the Higher Board of Education (YÖK) and the armed forces through the incitements of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) before we headed for the July 22 elections. As if giving a lesson to all parties involved, people voted in the AK Party with 47 percent.
The reactions to those efforts to obstruct Gül’s path to the presidency and people adopting Gül as a figure appropriate for Çankaya played an important role the election result. The circles that have had a hard time “digesting” the AK Party’s existence on the political scene since the beginning took the election results to be a defeat they suffered, becoming more aggressive as they once again began to write and say things as if no elections had been held and the people’s will hadn’t been reflected as votes.
Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt was asked an interesting question at the national day reception of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC): “Are you still behind the statement you made on April 12?” Of course his answer was “yes.” The media took this to be a sign that the military did not want Gül and carried this claim to the headlines. The editor-in-chief of a newspaper which has the mistaken idea that it is the flagship of the media has launched a campaign against Gül in his column despite people’s will, suggesting that “he show a gesture of goodwill by withdrawing.” He also exhorts one of his subordinate columnists to write about the same thing.
Those who did not vote for the AK Party and who cannot “stomach” Gül, making unrestrained judgments with scornful attitudes toward people get on my nerves. They don’t have a whit of respect toward democracy or the people’s will. In recent weeks my mind seemed to question my heart, saying: “The AK Party has won a beautiful victory, but I wonder if Gül should continue as a foreign minister, working shoulder-to-shoulder with the prime minister, and the authorities of the president should be limited.” I thought that the essential thing was to be of service to people as much as possible. But, having seen the insistence that “we are behind our words,” and the “talking big” by some, I will listen to my heart. Letting my heart conquer my mind, I will say Gül should run for the presidency because people want him. Let’s wait for the referendum if you like, let people elect their president because:
* Respecting democracy and people's choice necessitates this;
* There is not a single valid reason preventing someone who served as prime minister and foreign minister from becoming president;
* Gül is loved very much by people who consider him fitting for this post; and
* If Gül doesn’t run, the AK Party could never explain this to those who believe and support it. Despite being a winner, it would sustain fatal wounds.
If you really want to see a gesture of goodwill, it should come from those looking to generate crises at every opportunity. Theirs would not count as a gesture of goodwill because that can only come from those who win. Particularly those who lose in a democratic test are supposed to apologize and state that there is no other will that could prevail over Parliament’s. The 47 percent support is the people’s will. Stop fighting people now! Don’t damage any longer this country that is about to make great leaps forward. Don’t frustrate this political team’s excitement to serve this country. When our country wins, everybody will win -- even you.
