LONDON
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said regarding the premiership in an interview with Financial Times, "it's too early; I have still two years in this job."
FT Ankara representative Daniel Dombay's interview with Gul --titled "Gul urges Turkey to stay on EU path"-- took a large space in the newspaper.
When asked whether he thought about being prime minister of Turkey, Gul said, "it's too early; I have still two years in this job."
The article also quoted, "Turkey's president has identified the country's troubled EU bid as the cause of its success over the past decade, calling on Ankara to redouble its efforts to join, in stark contrast with the approach of the country's prime minister. Gul said it was essential for Turkey to agree a new constitution by consensus, speaking as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up a campaign for the constitution to include controversial provisions on executive authority."
Dombay stressed, "Mr. Erdogan has emphasised ties with the Middle East rather than the west," and continued as saying, "he has also recently suggested that Turkey should re-introduce capital punishment – a move that would effectively put an end to Ankara's EU ambitions."
On the other hand, he touched Gul's point of view and said, "But Mr. Gul said that despite difficulties with the negotiations in Brussels, the country's efforts to join the bloc were the root cause of the political stability and economic growth it has enjoyed over the past decade."
Financial Times referred to the subject and quoted Gul as saying, "If you look at the totality of these reforms that have been enacted in the last 10 years they are an adaptation of the EU acquis [the bloc's accumulated legislation]. We should not stop here; it's not sufficient, we have to strongly carry forward the reforms."
Furthermore, the article also stated that Turkey's secular-oriented opposition was weak and unpopular and there were names of President Gul and Turkish PM Erdogan appearing when it comes to dominating Turkish politics.
The article stressed Gul as saying that his discourse was different from Turkish PM's by emphasising that he and Mr. Erdogan had together built up the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, which has ruled Turkey for a decade.
"I, as president, am not a politician, I represent or look at the picture from a broader perspective and I embrace everyone. But I wouldn't say something if I didn't believe it," the article quoted Gul.
