Abdullah Gül was born on October 29, 1950 in Kayseri. He studied at Kayseri High School and Istanbul University Faculty of Economics. He stayed in England for two years in order to complete his doctorate, he studied at the same faculty, and in 1983 he received the title of "Doctor" from Istanbul University. He worked at the establishment of Sakarya University Industrial Engineering Department and gave economic lectures in the same department. In 1989, he became an Associate Professor in the field of international economics. Between 1983 and 1991 he worked as an economist in the Islamic Development Bank in central Jeddah.
Political Career
Between 1991 and 2007, he served as Deputy of Kayseri for five terms in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. From 1991 to 1995 he was a member of the Planning and Budget Commission in Parliament. From 1995 to 2001, he served as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. He served as Minister of State and Government Spokesperson in the 54th Government established in 1996. In 2000, he led the Innovative Movement and became the general presidential candidate at the Congress of the Virtue Party. In 2001 he was one of the pioneers in the founding of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He served as Vice President of Political and Legal Affairs. On November 18, 2002, he established the 58th Government of the Republic of Turkey as the Prime Minister. From 2003 to 2007 he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister during the 59th governmental period. He was elected as the 11th President of Turkey by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on August 28, 2007. Abdullah Gul continued this mission until August 28, 2014.
Abdullah Gül, who is married to Hayrünnisa Gül, is a father of three, Ahmet Münir, Kübra and Mehmet Emre.
July 15 Process
The 11th President Abdullah Gül was one of the top level politicians who reacted without any delay during the treacherous attempt of FETÖ.
“Soldiers shall return to the barracks, you protect democracy”
After Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who called people to the streets to resist the coup by connecting to the live broadcast of CNN TÜRK via Facetime, 11th President Abdullah Gül connected to the same broadcast and called soldiers to, “return to barracks.” Also going live on NTV and making statements, Gül said, “First of all, I would like to say this our nation: Everyone, regardless of their ideas, their party or their thoughts, should put their discrepancies aside and stay strong and solid for democracy. Turkey is not a Latin American or an African country. Mistaken ones should waive and go back to their barracks. This is not an event under the chain of command. Everyone; the ones who are mistaken, should immediately go back to their barracks. They may not be able to look the nation in the eye. This is the day to protect democracy without giving a chance to aggressiveness and conflict. I believe that Turkey will overcome this troublesome night. I am kindly asking my precious citizens to be strong and decisive against these unknown riots. They shall defend democracy.”
Abdullah Gül, who made an announcement through his official Twitter account at 00:59 on the night of July 15, tweeted, “Today is the day to protect the democracy leaving any discrepancies aside regardless of everyone’s ideas or parties.” Gül’s announcements made a tremendous impact on social media.
Negotiation traffic
Coming together with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Presidential Palace on July 21st, Abdullah Gül got in touch with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and TBMM Deputy Chairman Pervin Buldan within the same day.
During the visits he made, regarding the coup attempt,he stated that “Anything could have happened. No one could think of a bombardment at a place where the nation is represented. We are in great sorrow. I believe that with the dialogue between the ruling and opposition parties Turkey will overcome this. After this disgraceful event, all of us will be ashamed of, seeing everyone trying to protect democracy will lessen our sorrow at some point.”
Support for the democracy watch
Giving a speech to the people who were keeping a “ democracy watch” in front of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s residence in Kısıklı on the evening of the same day, the 11th President, Abdullah Gül said that the night of July 15 had become a stain on the history of Turkey.
Expressing that confrontations between the police and soldiers, tanks against people, were so disgraceful, Gül said, “Those who caused these events today are cruel, irrational, miserable people who don’t know what they are doing and unfortunately tempted the nation. They filled Turkey’s history with a huge page of shame. Thanks to the precious people who jumped in front of tanks and went out on to the streets, for Turkey, for their nation and the country, for the government and the president, without any hesitation, we thankfully prevented darker and sadder days to from occurring in the future.
Yeni Şafak Condolence Visit
On July 26th, the 11th president Abdullah Gül visited Yeni Şafak to pay his condolences for our journalist Mustafa Cambaz, who was martyred on the night of the malicious coup attempt. Appearing on TVNET as a guest afterwards, Gül talked about the night of the July 15 coup attempt saying, “It was the darkest night of Turkey, we witnessed people who had been beside us for years become traitors.
