AKP Watch

AKP Watch August 13th, 2007

Turkey’s ruling Islamic-oriented AK Party decided on Monday to re-submit Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, an Islamist, as its candidate for president, party sources said.

Modernists oppose Gül because of his Islamist views and the fact his wife wears the Muslim head scarf. Gül, who denies any Islamist agenda as a part of Islamic-leaning AK Party’s Takiyye strategy, has already signaled he wants to run again.

 The leader of the modernist-secularist opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) reiterated his objections to Gul’s candidacy, based upon Gül Islamic hidden agenda: “Gul is a conscious member of an ideological circle [of islamofascism],” opposition leader Deniz Baykal told CNN Turk television.

“Turkey would become a country in which the political balances were changing very fast, in which the Middle East identity would become more pronounced.” “It is not appropriate to have a president who has problems with the founding philosophy of the Modern Turkish Republic,” said Baykal.

The job of president is critical to overall control of the state. The post is largely ceremonial, but the incumbent has the power to veto legislative bills and government appointments. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the current president, often frustrated the government by blocking its initiatives.

Onur Oymen, a senior member of the Republican People’s Party (aka CHP), said Gul’s candidacy amounted to a serious threat to the secular principles of the country.

“Gul’s candidacy was not expected to contribute to peace and stability in the country,” Oymen told private NTV television after the decision was announced.

Gul’s wife wears an Islamic style headscarf, which many secular Turks regard as a symbol of political Islam and use as a reason why he should not become president.

Baykal, however, said the outfit of Gul’s wife was not the real problem.

“In my opinion, the outfits of his wife is not an issue. Any one who can give confidence about the inside of his head can be” a candidate, Baykal said.

PS: Takkiye, Turkish form of the Arabic taqīya: “fear, caution, prudence; (in Shiitic Islam) dissimulation of one’s religion (under duress or in the face of threatening damage).”

• AKP , Gül , Islamofascism , Turkey
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