AKP sees no crisis over presidency

ANKARA

Labor Minister Çelik says he does not expect a fight for the presidency. AA photo

Senior ruling party officials have dismissed President Abdullah Gül’s criticisms of some government members’ statements over the 2014 presidential elections, underlining that they do not expect a fight for the post between the incumbent and the current prime minister.

“There has never been a crisis [between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gül]. My experience tells me that there will not be in the future either,” Labor Minister Faruk Çelik told reporters yesterday. Çelik was one of the government members who said Gül would not run for another term but would leave his position to Erdoğan in 2014.

Gül’s press adviser, Ahmet Sever, had expressed the president’s sadness with regard to some statements from government members about his own political decisions.

“[In my earlier statements] I’ve said there would be no discussion with regard to the presidency. I am [still] of the same opinion. I have also given credit to our president’s performance as the head of the nation,” Çelik said. Çelik also recalled his belief that there would be no problems obstructing Erdoğan’s wish to run for the presidency in 2014. Mustafa Elitaş, the deputy parliamentary group leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), also denied speculation about a possible disagreement between Erdoğan and Gül. “Their friendship is not something others can understand. They would not abandon their friendship for any kind of post. [There is] no need to get worried,” he said.