Former President Abdullah Gül on May 4 confirmed that Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief advisor İbrahim Kalın had visited him previously, but said it was a courtesy call and not intended to prevent his presidential candidacy as claimed.
According to Turkish media reports last week, Erdoğan sent Akar and Kalın to Gül to dissuade him from running for the presidency in the June 24 snap election.
"It was a visit paid during the day and in front of everyone. So it wasn’t a secret," Gül told reporters after Friday prayers.
"There were no threats, impositions or disrespect during the visit," he added.
Gül and Erdoğan were among the founders of the ruling AKP party back in 2001.
The story about the visit was first published by the Habertürk daily, which later deleted this story from its website and then fired Barış Erkaya, the editor of its website, in a development indicating that it had angered Erdoğan.
On April 28 Gül ended weeks of speculations that he would stand against Erdoğan in the presidential election and announced he would not run for president.
"There is no longer any question of my candidacy," Gül told reporters, citing a lack of "broad consensus" between opposition parties for his nomination.
Parliamentary main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had claimed that Turkey’s top soldier and chief presidential advisor threatened Gül not to run for the presidency and called on them to make a clear statement about the meeting ahead of the key parliamentary and presidential elections.
"It is an attempt at military tutelage," Kılıçdaroğlu said in a parliamentary group meeting on May 3.
