11th President

BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- It has been clear who will be Turkey's 11th president. Candidacy of Abdullah Gul, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) Kayseri deputy, foreign minister, deputy prime minister, former prime minister, will be presented to the supreme will of the Parliament.
I celebrate both Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and hope that his candidacy will be favorable for Turkey.
Gul will be initially engaged in foreign policy like former presidents Turgut Ozal and Suleyman Demirel. Both Ozal and Demirel pursued Westwards policies by establishing good relations with the US and Europe and by not disregarding anything to keep Turkish speaking countries together. Gul knows the commanders since he is a member of the National Security Council (NSC) and this will ease things for Gul. He will be the youngest president after Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Ismet Inonu.
The group meeting which resembled a demonstration was held for the declaration of Gul's candidacy. The top posts will belong to AKP. Thus, we'll have active weeks and months. The final decision will be given by the nation. If the AKP doesn't get around 50% votes in upcoming general elections, AKP holding all top posts in its hand will be controversial.
There will be evaluations about the issue on April's last and May's first two weeks. Foreign media will also be interested in the presidential election. We'll also express our own views.