Will President Gül retire?

President Abdullah Gül has announced that he will not run for presidency again.

According to his statement, he had told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before the local elections that he would not run again.

I do not understand why he has hidden this from us, “the national will,” until today. This question was asked to him at least 10 times and each time he gave an answer in the lines of “you’ll find out when the time comes.” In Uşak, for instance, he had said “We’ll see.”

There is a question without an answer. Will President Gül stay in politics after the end of his tenure, or will he retreat to his corner to enjoy retirement?

I do not think the second option will make Gül happy. If we are to remember that he said a while ago that, “I will not continue in politics under these circumstances,” I have the feeling he will have a broken heart. Because what he means by “under these circumstances” is nothing other than Erdoğan’s wish for a “puppet prime minister.”

Actually, we could say that Gül wishes to remain active in politics and dreams of heading the party he was a founding member of. It is known that many within the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have such a desire. The problem is the prime minister’s “wish to work with a different type of prime minister” should he be elected president.

What will determine Gül’s political future is for Erdoğan to see, in the next general election, if his plans are actually compatible with real life.

If Erdoğan is able to see that he can do as he plans, then there is no option left for Gül, but retirement.

Toward a one man...