Former Turkish President Gül says his stay in official residence temporary

ANKARA

Former President Abdullah Gül has made it clear that he will shortly leave the Huber Villa in the Tarabya Presidential Campus in Istanbul, where he is currently living and personally paying the costs of the residence.

Gül has been forced to reside in the public property as construction of his new residence has been delayed, Gül’s press office said in a written statement posted on his official website on Feb. 11, adding the statement was necessary due to speculative news reports on the matter.

The statement also said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had proposed that Gül use the residence temporarily until his new residence is completed. Gül will also personally handle all expenses made at the villa, the statement added. 

“11th President Gül will leave the Tarabya Campus when the related work for construction of his new residence, which is about to be completed, is finished. All expenses made at the Tarabya Campus concerning Gül due to this force majeure accommodation are being met personally by the 11th president,” the statement said.

It also underlined that the public “intimately knows Gül’s ethical stance concerning the use of public properties,” which it said he has displayed for his entire political life.