World press on presidential elections in Turkey (June 24, 2014)

 

"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to wait until the July 3 deadline to announce his decision on whether to be a candidate for the presidency, the first round of voting for which will be held on August 10," the article reads."July 3 is the last day to submit the names of the candidates to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) in order to be eligible for the elections," the author writes."On June 22, on his way back from France, Erdoğan told reporters on board his jet that the reason he was waiting until the deadline was that he was “waiting for the opposition parties’ candidates to become official.” So the former justification for not officially announcing Erdoğan’s candidacy to the presidency, which he wants very much, was that there was no name from the opposition as a rival. Now there is an opposition candidate, but Erdoğan says he is still waiting," the article reads.

 

Hürriyet Daily News published an article by Murat Yetkin devoted to the coming presidential elections in Turkey.

 

"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to wait until the July 3 deadline to announce his decision on whether to be a candidate for the presidency, the first round of voting for which will be held on August 10," the article reads.

 

"July 3 is the last day to submit the names of the candidates to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) in order to be eligible for the elections," the author writes.

 

"On June 22, on his way back from France, Erdoğan told reporters on board his jet that the reason he was waiting until the deadline was that he was “waiting for the opposition parties’ candidates to become official.” So the former justification for not officially announcing Erdoğan’s candidacy to the presidency, which he wants very much, was that there was no name from the opposition as a rival. Now there is an opposition candidate, but Erdoğan says he is still waiting," the article reads.

 

According to the author the first reason why the Turkish prime minister is waiting is that he is intimidated by his major opponent, Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the former Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), who  was suggested by the social democratic main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and seconded by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.

 

"Another problem bothering Erdoğan and delaying his decision are the concerns within his party that if he ascends to the presidency and if incumbent President Abdullah Gül steps aside, (ie. not replace Erdoğan as prime minister and the head of the party), then the AK Party might start to decline. There are other popular names to replace Erdoğan as prime minister such as Ahmet Davutoğlu, Numan Kurtulmuş or Mehmet Ali Şahin, but according to AK Parti sources, none have the full confidence among decision-making bodies that they will be able to hold the party together for a long time," the author writes.

 

"Considering all those factors, Erdoğan could also decide to carry on as prime minister and put forward Abdullah Gül as a presidential candidate for a second term. All he has to do is to change a party rule barring more than three consecutive terms in Parliament. If he does that, it is possible that Gül could get elected in the first round, as he could get votes from MHP and even CHP voters. This could also help decrease the political tension in the country," he concludes.