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Turkey in 2018: The war of the presidents

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees his predecessor, Abdullah Gul, as a rival and potential threat to his authority in the coming year.
Turkey's new President Tayyip Erdogan (L) and outgoing President Abdullah Gul attend a handover ceremony at the Presidential Palace of Cankaya in Ankara August 28, 2014. Erdogan was sworn in as Turkey's 12th president at a ceremony in parliament on Thursday, cementing his position as the country's most powerful modern leader, in what his opponents fear will herald an increasingly authoritarian rule. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - GM1EA8T00E601

For those who know Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his predecessor Abdullah Gul, a war between the two should not come as a surprise. The only mystery was its timing, and now we know it has just begun.

Deliberately keeping his distance from Erdogan, Gul has issued some critical but cautious statements against the current president's practices for some time now. Yet the declaration of war came when Gul issued a statement that was critical of a new emergency decree that critics say grants impunity to civilians who go after Erdogan’s opponents.

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