MESOP : COMING TOGETHER AGAIN ? Erdogan & Abdullah Gul hold surprise meeting

20 june 2015 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former President Abdullah Gul held a surprise meeting in parliament on June 19, the first such meeting since the June 7 general election.Erdogan and Gul met in the office of Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek for around an hour, Hurriyet daily reported.The meeting came after the publishing of a book by Ahmet Sever, who served as an advisor to Gul for 12 years, which revealed a number of splits of opinion between Gul and Erdogan.

The book “Abdullah Gul ile 12 Yıl” (12 Years with Abdullah Gul), which hit bookshelves on June 14, paints a portrait of Erdogan and Gul facing a serious split of opinion on a number of key issues, including the government’s Syria policy, the 2013 Gezi Park protests, and free speech.Gül issued a written statement on June 16 rejecting claims that the book was dictated or approved by him, or that it reflected his personal opinions. Sever, however, has said that Gul read the whole book, and even made some corrections.In the book, Sever writes that Gul told Erdogan and AKP seniors after the spate of illegal wiretappings and corruption probes in 2013 that the accused ministers should either be dismissed or resign. “If they are sent via a censure motion, then you will be in a difficult position,” Sever quotes Gul as saying in the book.