Gül doesn't want to be part of Erdo?an's game

Turkey?s former President Abdullah Gül said through an aide on May 26 that he has turned down an invitation from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), of which he was a key founder, to join a rally in Istanbul on May 30, just a week before the critical June 7 general election.

The close aide, who asked not to be named, said Gül had already announced his decision not to take part in active politics ?under current circumstances? before leaving the presidency last year, adding that there had been no change in his stance since then. 

?It is not a reaction to anything,? the aide elaborated. ?Mr. Gül thinks they are still friends and he wishes them success, but he doesn?t want to attend the rally because he wants to stay out of daily politics.?

The ?they? in this sentence means President Tayyip Erdo?an and Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu, who is also the chairman of the AK Parti. 

Muharrem Sar?kaya, an experienced political journalist, wrote on May 26 in daily Habertürk that the AK Parti wanted to see Gül alongside Erdo?an and Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç, the third of the triumvirate who founded the party in 2001, ?on top of the bus? at Davuto?lu?s rally.

The event will actually be called the ?Conquest Rally,? in reference to the 562nd anniversary of the Ottomans under Sultan Mehmet II taking Istanbul (then Constantinople) from the Byzantine Empire, commemorated every year on May 29. The AK Parti rally will actually take place a day after the official Conquest Day, but Erdo?an and Davuto?lu thought the number of people attending that rally may be limited as Friday is a working day, so the party scheduled it for May 30. (The Istanbul Governor?s Office announced yesterday that no permission had been granted...