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.