President Gül must return to politics: Deputy PM

ANKARA

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said he would want President Abdullah Gül to return to politics after his term ends and especially make his comeback with the ruling Justice and Development Part (AKP). 

Arınç said there was an assumption that the present prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, would become the president and Gül would not be a candidate once again, but expressed hope that this would not mean the end of Gül’s political life and that he would return to politics. 

“The person we are talking about is our [the AKP’s] first prime minister, the founder of our party, the lover of our nation … I would want such a person to have the urge to return to politics. I would want him to do politics in the AKP,” Arınç said. Arınç said Gül would receive the best position if he chose to return to the party.