Turkey’s Gul ends bid for president

ISTANBUL, TURKEY —  Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Sunday that he would withdraw his candidacy for president, a largely procedural move made amid a wrenching nationwide upheaval over the role of Islam in public life.

Turkey is headed for early elections in July after a bitter confrontation over whether the ruling party, which has its roots in political Islam, should put forward a candidate for the presidency. The post has been held by avowed secularists since the republic’s founding more than eight decades ago.

It had been clear since last week that the candidacy of Gul, a respected diplomat and an observant Muslim, could not go forward because opposition parties had the ability to deny a quorum for a vote in parliament, which elects the president.

Gul’s Justice and Development Party holds a substantial parliamentary majority. But the opposition, bolstered by the country’s Constitutional Court, was successful in its push to annul a preliminary vote for president last week.

Over the last three weeks, the secular-minded opposition has orchestrated huge anti-government rallies, drawing tens of thousands of people to the streets in Turkey’s major cities to protest a candidacy not only by Gul, but also by anyone from his party. That prompted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to propose early elections, which are scheduled for July 22.

The death blow to Gul’s candidacy, at least until after general elections, was delivered by the high court after heavy pressure from Turkey’s military, which said it would oppose any candidate who did not adhere to the secular principles laid out in the country’s constitution.

Gul has said he will abide by the guiding ideals of the republic’s founder, Kemal Ataturk. But many secular Turks deeply mistrust Gul because his wife wears a Muslim head scarf and his party in the past has fitfully tried to push through an agenda that included the criminalization of adultery.

Gul said Sunday that there was no point in continuing for the moment with his effort to gain the presidency, a largely symbolic post that nonetheless carries a few important powers, such as the ability to veto laws and make judicial appointments.

“My candidacy is out of the question,” he said after opposition parties once again prevented parliament from mustering a quorum for what would have been the first of a series of votes for president. “I don’t feel resentment.”

Secular protesters have accused Gul and Erdogan of having a hidden agenda to give Islam a greater role in public life in Turkey. Both men deny any such ambitions.

Many Turks see the presidency as a last bastion of undiluted secularism in a nation where parliament and the prime minister’s post are controlled by an erstwhile Islamist party, and are alarmed by the prospect of an Islamist-minded president.

As foreign minister, Gul has been the principal architect of Turkey’s efforts to win admission to the European Union. That ambition was fraught with difficulty even before the current bout of political turmoil, and the overt role of Turkey’s military has raised questions about the strength of democratic institutions in this officially secular but overwhelmingly Muslim republic.

Gul had sought the presidency in lieu of Erdogan, who is thought by many voters to be more resolutely devout.

king@latimes.com