Former first lady of Turkey Hayrünnisa Gül was suspicious of a plot to kill her husband, Abdullah Gül, according to a column that appeared in the Milliyet daily on Jan 27.
Written by Talat Atilla, the column said Mrs. had Gül complained about the drowsiness of the former president whenever he took a ride in the car provided to him by the state. Mrs. Gül reportedly told their staff that her husband looked drunk every time he got out of the car. She was suspicious of the release of a poisonous gas in the car due to an odor she detected.
The column that mentioned her fears was later removed from Milliyet’s website.
Mrs. Gül reportedly first had the car disinfected, but when the odor was not eliminated, the security team checked the exhaust of the car at a different service station than the one the government-owned car is usually taken to. As a result of the inspection, it was determined that the air conditioning system in Gül’s car was defective.
The Office of the Presidency reportedly refused to pay the bill since it was sent to a different service station.
Gül is considered the strongest possible rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan though Gül several times made clear that he has no intention of running against the incumbent president.