Abdullah Gül

Biography

Abdullah Gül was born on 29 October 1950 in Kayseri, Turkey. He completed high school at Kayseri Lyceum and went on to study at Istanbul University's Faculty of Economics. Later, he attended the University of Exeter and the University of London, gaining advanced qualifications in economics and international affairs. This education, spanning both Turkish and British institutions, shaped his future roles as a technocrat and a statesman.

Gül entered politics through the Islamist Welfare Party, winning a parliamentary seat for Kayseri in 1991 and keeping it through subsequent elections in 1995, 1999, 2002, and 2007. After the Welfare Party was banned for anti-secular activities, he joined the Virtue Party in 1998. In 2000, he was part of a modernist wing with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that challenged the party's leadership. He ran against leader Recai Kutan for the party chairmanship, earning 521 votes to Kutan's 633. When the Virtue Party was also shut down in 2001, he and Erdoğan co-founded the Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, aiming to blend moderate Islamist values with pro-European economic and democratic reforms.

After the AKP's big win in the 2002 general election, Gül became Prime Minister while Erdoğan was banned from office due to a past conviction. The government quickly lifted this restriction, and by March 2003, Erdoğan won a parliamentary by-election in Siirt and took over as Prime Minister. Gül then became Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, roles he held until 2007. In these positions, he was key in pushing for Turkey's European Union membership and handling regional diplomatic challenges.

Gül's 2007 presidential candidacy caused significant controversy. Secularists, including much of the Turkish military and many urban professionals, opposed the idea of a president with a wife who wore a headscarf, seeing it as a threat to Turkey's secular constitution. The Constitutional Court initially blocked the parliamentary vote, leading to early elections. After the AKP won again, Gül became the 11th President of Turkey on 28 August 2007, marking the first presidency with a headscarf-wearing first lady. He served one seven-year term, leaving in 2014.

During his presidency, Gül was seen as a calming influence, engaging with opposition leaders and supporting judicial reform and civil liberties. He received international honors, including an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath from the UK in 2008 and the Chatham House Prize in 2010. After his presidency, Gül chose not to return to active AKP politics amid growing tensions with Erdoğan and has since been on the Advisory Panel for the President of the Islamic Development Bank.