ISTANBUL
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Almost all Turkish dailies on Monday covered possibilities about Turkey's presidential election due in August.
Daily Radikal's frontpage quotes Deputy PM Emrullah Isler as saying "Bayburt model for (President Abdullah) Gul as prime minister." The paper says it is possible that a lawmaker from Bayburt province may resign to open way for current president Abdullah Gul to be an MP and eventually be the prime minister. The move aims to allow incumbent prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to run for president.
Daily HABERTURK cites Bunyamin Ozbek -- a deputy from Bayburt -- as saying "I will be honoured to resign for the sake of Turkey's stability." The paper noted that the formula was similar to the one used in 2003 for Erdogan to take over the prime minister's office from Gul. Back then, due to a political ban, Erdogan had not been allowed either to be a lawmaker nor the PM. After the lifting of the ban, a re-election was held in the province of Siirt for which Erdogan ran. The then Gul resigned as prime minister, and Erdogan became an MP and eventually the prime minister after the election.
Daily YENI SAFAK says Erdogan will decide on whether he will run for president or not after discussing the issue with Gul.
Most of the dailies also covered a local election controversy in Turkey's eastern province of Agri, where the votes for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the Justice and Development (AK) Party were almost equal. After appeals from both parties, the provincial election body made a decision to re-hold the elections on June 1.
Daily HURRIYET covers the issue under the title "Agri cancelled". Daily YENI SAFAK says that results were cancelled following tension in the city, where BDP provincial head announced their candidate's victory by 10 votes ahead of the AK Party contestant.
Galatasaray-Fenerbahce derby in Istanbul is what Turkish dailies also covered heavily on Monday. Daily HABERTURK headlines "Lion of the derby," a title it attributes to Wesley Sneijder, who scored the only goal of the game. Galatasaray triumphed 1-0 against archrivals Fenerbahce in a tense Istanbul derby, the paper says. The tense atmosphere of the match, during which the referee showed two red cards is also highlighted in the paper.
Daily VATAN carries the headline "Derby like a war," referring to the tension both in the field and after the match among the fans.
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