Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

It must have been a very difficult decision to make. The presidency of the Turkish Republic must have been a very attractive post for a politician, even if he might have been exercising far more powers than the president as the prime minister.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has launched a charm offensive aimed at winning the confidence of Kurdish voters after being installed on July 1 as the ruling party’s presidential candidate.

Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the joint presidential candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has called for a “democratic and civilized” race, following the nomination of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the upcoming presidential election.

Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s candidacy for the upcoming August presidential elections was announced July 1, it has been revealed that someone with a strong sense of foresight had opened a Twitter account for the “might-be-president” four years ago. 

Murat Yetkin murat.yetkin@hdn.com.tr

Though it was not a surprise at all, some 4,000 supporters who were invited to Ankara for the occasion stood up in cheers and slogans to welcome Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s candidacy to become Turkey’s next president.

Murat Yetkin murat.yetkin@hdn.com.tr

Though it was not a surprise at all, some 4,000 supporters who were invited to Ankara for the occasion stood up in cheers and slogans to welcome Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s candidacy to become Turkey’s next president.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be his party's presidential candidate at the vote this August, ruling AKP officials say.

The widely expected announcement comes briefly after President Abdullah Gul declared he was not intending to stand for a second term in office, amid speculations he might try to do so and could put Erdogan's ambitions in jeopardy.

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.

A new day is starting. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is not only nominating its presidential candidate; it is also closing one chapter and opening another one.

We will go through a stage when we will be very curious. We will waste time with a lot of gossip, scenarios and names.

There is no point in mincing words. Hardly anything has turned out the way Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had planned, predicted or hoped for in the Middle East.

It is hackneyed at this stage to point out that their “zero problems with neighbors” approach has been a dismal failure. But that is the case.