Turkey’s current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his predecessor, Abdullah Gül, on Sunday opened a museum-library in the central province of Kayseri which is named after Gül.
Among the participants of the inauguration ceremony were also Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Bosnian politician Bakir Izetbegovic, former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai as well as Erdoğan’s wife Emine and Gül’ wife Hayrunnisa.
Gül, who co-founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with Erdoğan, was elected to the presidency in 2007 and served in that position until 2014. He also served as Turkey’s foreign minister before his election to the presidency.
Although Erdoğan and Gül are considered political allies, there is a widespread belief they clash on many issues, and Erdoğan is accused of preventing Gül’s return to active politics after the end of his tenure as president.
There are also frequent reports in the Turkish media suggesting that Gül is planning to establish another political party that will be a rival to the AKP; however, these reports are denied by the ex-president.