NATO position has not crossed my mind: Gül

SAN JOSE, California

President Abdullah Gül (R) is pointing the Turkish Presidency Headquarters in Ankara via Google Earth to his wife Hayrunnisa Gül in Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. AA

Turkish President Abdullah Gül said May 24 that he has never considered becoming the secretary-general of NATO, dousing recent speculation that he could be nominated for the prestigious post.

“The NATO Secretariat-General is an important position, and it is pleasing for Turkey that a Turkish president has been thought of for this position,” Gül told a press conference at Microsoft’s headquarters in Silicon Valley, California. There could be no better candidate for NATO’s top post than Gül, EU Minister Egemen Bağış previously said in Brussels. “[But] I don’t know if he would accept [the position].” 

Gül also touched on the events in Syria during his California press conference, noting that since the U.N. Security Council’s resolution calling on the Arab republic to lay down arms, 1,500 more people had been killed in the country. “Syria is not exerting any efforts to implement the six-point plan [of international envoy Kofi Annan].”

The president said he was visiting Silicon Valley to contribute to Turkey’s scientific and technological development. He met with executives from venture capital firms with the hopes of drawing investment to Turkey and said he had seen that large technology companies were closely monitoring developments in Turkey. “These companies are aware of Turkey’s young population. Many of them have offices in Turkey, and the rest are trying to open offices there.”