Gül left the door open

The presidential elections are today"s hot topic everywhere. Everywhere people are discussing who is going to be the Prime Minister. We were at the parliament in order to get the answers to these questions. The AK Party group was already present there. First ministers came in. Some of them walked in a hastily manner and others were accompanied by a huge number of delegates. The Prime Minister also came along with a massive number of people ranging from ministers, vice presidents to MPs. We tried to take the pulse of the public by spending time conversing backstage or in the group meeting room.

When Selahattin Demirtas began to explain his certificate of vision, a group of journalists, the PM"s senior advisers, AK Party Ankara MP Yalçin Akdogan and I were having a conversation.

The PM was asked to comment on the candidacy of Demirtas in relation to the resolution process. He said, "Demirtas"s candidacy is the achievement of the normalization process. The Turkeyization endeavor is important."

Every step of the Kurdish movement not involving military action but political struggle, obedience not to Qandil but Ankara and attempts not to divide but unify were welcomed.

However, Demirtas must well use this credit, which the society has granted him.

I am personally considering the resolution process as the project of the century.

In the light of the lessons derived from history and our belief, I believe that when Turks and Kurds come together, they may do wonderful jobs.

BDP anticipates the resolution process with the presence of AK Party. They have the most contact with the AK Party. Considering CHP and MHP, they find it incomparable concerning AK Party"s efforts for the peace initiative. Today the strongest political representative behind the initiative is AK Party.

I find something hard to understand. They, and in particular Selahattin Demirtas, make the strongest criticism of the Prime Minister. Yet, I have never seen one single case when Selahattin Demirtas criticized the MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli. When the word comes about Kiliçdaroglu, he even builds warm sentences.

We were on CNN-Turk on Sirin Payzin"s TV program. Demirtas told Kiliçdaroglu that they would propose to back CHP"s candidate for presidency.

To use a delightful language for CHP and MHP, which oppressed Kurds, and to rebuke the architect of the resolution process, Erdogan: Isn"t that odd?

No. I mean of course it"s plausible, considering AK Party is their biggest political rival in the region. And adding to that, AK Party is the ruling party while BDP is in the opposition. However, this language sides BDP with the nationalist-white Turks who are anti-Kurds.

AK Party group meeting was over. The Prime Minister left and we returned backstage.

At that time, Kiliçdaroglu was walking towards the group meeting with a huge mass, stepping reluctantly.

A day ago, he was punching the speaker"s chair telling the audience that they would go the ballot box whether or not they liked it.

In the group meeting, he rose to the speaker"s desk and again threatened the CHP voters, saying, "Whether you like it or not, you"ll go to the ballot box."

The opposition party leaders are doing their best and on the other side, Erdogan"s election campaign strategy simply sits on a "positive campaign".

Aside from petty satires, it is believed that Erdogan will continue this style of language.

He gave the analogy of the "vase" in reference to Ihsanoglu. Yesterday he described him as "the imported candidate". That"s all.

What essentially matters for AK Party is not what Ihsanoglu or the opposition parties are doing or will be doing. They are watching them, but rather they are more concerned with inward matters.

For example, they are thinking about what will happen to President Gül.

Gül"s word at the Ramadan iftar dinner given by TOBB "I will continue to serve my nation" is considered as an implication of desire to continue in his political career. The President on his Kütahya trip said that he would not have any future political plan under current circumstances.

What were the circumstances in those days? Prime Minister laid out the idea of "running, sweating President" and stressed the point that Prime Minister must be compatible with him. The Prime Minister said, "If need be, I use all my initiative."

President Gül made this statement on April 18, 2014.

The next day an outreaching source calling journalists on behalf of Çankaya underlined "today"s circumstances". It seems that according to the "current circumstances" a change is needed in the presidential office. It is expected that Gül is going to wink at a chance for a political career on such gathering events organized by TOBB or in his farewell meetings.

It is good to keep up with it.

I personally could not reach the conclusion that the priority of PM Erdogan"s future plan vision is Abdullah Gül. However, this is quite a critical process for AK Party. It does not look like a piece of cake or a process without any painstaking struggle.

After Erdogan becomes elected as president, answers will be sought to questions whether it"s Gül who is going to lead the party or not, and who is going to be PM. Erdogan"s appointment will be important as much as Gül"s decision. However, Erdogan is uncomfortable with the discussion of who is going to be PM before the presidential election results become clear.