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Gul calls out Erdogan at iftar

Abdullah Gul, Turkey's former president and co-founder of the Justice and Development Party, calls for an urgent revision of Ankara’s foreign policy.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul (L) and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrive at an opening ceremony of a new line of the Ankara Metro in Ankara February 12, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX18NXZ

The June 7 elections not only ended the 12-year rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), but they also appear to be the beginning of a change in Turkey’s foreign policy orientation. Up for debate is Ankara’s untenable position in the Middle East, where it has no say over developments despite the dire affect those developments have on its security and economic interests.

With no guarantee that the AKP will regain its pre-eminent position in early elections, if a coalition government can’t be formed in the coming days, many consider the Sunni-based, pro-Muslim Brotherhood policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — the AKP’s “spiritual leader” — and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to be at an end.

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