AKP founder and president rejects MHP offer to run for seat again

President Abdullah Gül has rejected an overture from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) that he again run for the post in August elections as part of a joint initiative designed to prevent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from becoming head of state.

Bahçeli, who has been carrying out talks on the eve of the party’s expected announcement about its stance for the presidential candidate, met with Gül at the presidential palace Çankaya on May 21.

Bahçeli had earlier announced that his party was searching for a candidate that would overcome the polarization in Turkey and who would “embrace all layers of the society, stand equidistant to all kinds of religious, ethnic, denominational and social parts and remain loyal to nationalist, conservative and moral values.”

Erdoğan is the source of current social tensions, Bahçeli told Gül, adding that the prime minister was also under suspicion due to the large graft probe that erupted last December.

Portraying such a picture, “Would you be our candidate?” Bahçeli asked Gül.

“Thank you, Mr. Bahçeli,” Gül responded. “I am the founder of the AK Parti [ruling Justice and Development Party]. There shouldn’t be two candidates from one party, this is not correct in terms of political ethics either.”

Erdoğan is widely expected to run for the presidency even though he has yet to make a formal announcement about his candidacy.

Relations between Gül and the MHP leader have been strained before, as the latter had refused the president’s calls to discuss the issues of formerly arrested lawmakers and the Kurdish issue.

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