A rival to President Erdogan who posed the main threat to his re-election has pulled out after a visit from Turkey’s most senior soldier. Abdullah Gul, who founded the ruling AK Party (AKP) with Mr Erdogan and was president from 2007 to 2014, seemed on the verge of declaring his candidacy as he shuttled between meetings with opposition parties. Mr Gul has became increasingly critical of creeping authoritarianism under Mr Erdogan since leaving office. His looming candidacy in the June election appeared to spook Mr Erdogan’s camp, with Binali Yildirim, the prime minister, calling it an opposition plot. Resat Petek, an AKP MP, told Mr Gul not to get “played by the Gulenists”, the group named after the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, which the…

Source: The Times April 29, 2018 22:59 UTC