AKP's Abdullah Gül Appointed as New PM
Erdogan announces government program. Top priority: "Eradicating Unemployment"
Ugur Akinci, The Turkish Times, Washington, D.C., November 16 - Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has appointed Abdullah Gul, 52, a moderate and pro-Western member of the AKP (Justice and Development Party), for a five-year term as the new Turkish Prime Minister. Gul is a strong advocate of Turkey's European ambitions and closer ties with the United States.

AKP has emerged from the November 3 general elections as the number one party, garnering 34.27% of the votes. AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ex-mayor of Istanbul, could not become PM due to his 1998 conviction for "inciting religious hatred." The Islamic-rooted AKP has distanced itself from the former Islamist rhetoric of the now-defunct Islamist parties Welfare Party (Refah) and Virtue Party (Fazilet).

Gul, described as a "burly, mustachioed figure with a gentle manner" by the Associated Press, is a politician Washington is familiar with. During the last decade Gul has visited the United States several times as a Turkish parliamentarian and also as a State Minister in Turkey's first Islamist-led government. He usually preferred a moderate take on issues in contrast to Islamist PM Necmettin Erbakan's hardliner approach and represented the younger reformist caucus within the Welfare Party.

Gul was a State Minister when a military-led popular opposition front forced Erbakan from office in 1997. When Virtue Party was formed to replace Welfare, Gul stood his distance from the Virtue Chairman Recai Kutan, an Erbakan stand-in, and stuck to his moderate views that aimed at expanding the party's popular base while avoiding an "adverse reaction" from the Turkish civilian and military establishment.

Gul renounced political Islam and created some waves when he admitted that Erbakan has made mistakes. When Virtue, just like Welfare before it, was also banned for its anti-secular activities, Gul's reformists, joined by Erdogan, formed AKP last year and chose the charismatic Erdogan as their leader.

Washington supportive
The Bush Administration has appeared supportive of the new Turkish leadership, with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson offering support for the AKP's positions on stronger ties with the European Union, democratic reforms and economic development.

In his remarks that was broadcast by National Public Radio in the United States on November 16, Gul in his comfortable English said "our aim is to show the world that a country, which has a Muslim population, can also be democratic, transparent and modern and cooperate with the world."

AKP went on the record repeatedly for its support of Turkey's full membership in the European Union. To drive the point home graphically, Erdogan lunched with Italian PM Berlusconi although he is a devout Muslim fasting in Ramadan.

However, on other sensitive issues of the day, AKP has implied that it will either press on with its conservative agenda (as in the case of wearing Islamic-style headscarves in public institutions) or suggested that previous status will be "negotiated" (i.e. IMF program). AKP, however, has publicly expressed its overall support for a $31 billion International Monetary Fund rescue plan for the Turkish economy.

Gul as caretaker
Erdogan, despite the court verdict blocking his political future, is still regarded as the real power behind the scenes. Gul is expected to lead the government until parliament passes constitutional amendments changing the laws and allowing Erdogan to take over. Most analysts believe that Gul will lead the effort to change the Turkish Constitution and then turn over the reins of power to Erdogan.

"Today, there is an abnormal situation,'' Gul said. "So, it is our absolute duty to normalize this abnormal situation."

AKP program unveiled
On Saturday, November 16, AKP released a program described as "ambitious" by the Western wire services and promising to improve human rights, fight corruption, lower inflation and propel privatization.

"We've said 'from now on, nothing will be the same in Turkey,''' Erdogan said, as he was announcing the government program. "Now we're at the beginning of those days."

Top priority: jobs
Erdogan said that the new government would enact stiffer punishments in cases of bribery and corruption, which most Turks see as the root cause of a deep economic crisis that has seen 2 million workers lose jobs.

He also vowed to move forward with Turkey's IMF-backed austerity program, but said adjustments were needed to protect the poor.

"We will review the current stand-by agreement with the IMF,'' Erdogan said.

Last year, Turkey's economy shrank 9.4 percent - its worst recession in a half-century. Erdogan said measures to revitalize the economy and boost the growth rate and employment will be taken.

"The government's top priority will be eradicating unemployment," Erdogan said.

Erdogan also said that the country's privatization drive will be boosted and inflation would be lowered, but gave no details.

Erdogan also called for the relaxation of secular laws that bar students from wearing Islamic-style head scarves. The country's staunchly secular military regards Islamic-style head scarves as a political statement and a threat to the secular regime.

Erdogan's party, trying to distance itself from its Islamic roots, said it would, however, seek a national consensus on the issue. "Every kind of obstacle before education will be lifted," Erdogan said.

Cyprus
Immediately after announcing the plan Erdogan flew to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for meetings on a U.N. plan to reunite the island ahead of the EU summit.

Erdogan welcomed the U.N. plan as a basis for more talks but said efforts to form a government in Ankara and the illness of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash made the timetable tight.

"It is not possible to come to an immediate decision since the plan...came at a time when President Rauf Denktash fell ill and at a time when there was a void in leadership (in Turkey)," Erdogan said.

Who is Gul?
Gul was born in 1950 to a pious family in Kayseri, a central Turkish city that is a major business center in the conservative heartland. In 1973, his father ran for parliament as a candidate for Erbakan's party. He failed to win a seat but passed on his devotion to his son, who began his career running Kutan's political campaign.

Gul studied economics at Istanbul University, and after a 1980 military coup worked as an economist at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

He returned to Turkey in 1991 for the circumcision ceremony of his eldest son, Ahmet, at the same time that Turkey called early elections. Erbakan asked him to run for Welfare from Kayseri, where he swept the ballot.

He has since been re-elected to the Turkish Grand National Assembly three times.

Gul is married and has three children. He is fluent in English and Arabic as well.