Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Sunday he was going ahead with his bid for the presidency, the German News Agency "WAM" reported. "There can be no talk about my withdrawing my candidacy," Gul said in Ankara, though without commenting directly on the military's statement of "concern" on late Friday. Further developments now depended on a ruling of the constitutional court on a suit brought by the opposition after the first round of voting on Friday, Gul said. The court is to issue a ruling on Monday. Gul, of the ruling Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party AKP, failed by ten votes of gaining the necessary two-thirds majority in 550-seat parliament needed to be elected president. The opposition Republican Peoples party CHP challenged the legality of the vote on grounds that at least two-thirds of the parliamentary deputies should have taken part in the voting.
