Gül, Abdullah, << GOOL, AHB doo lah >> (1950-…), was president of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. Gül, who has roots in political Islam, is a member of the Justice and Development Party—called Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP ) in Turkish. Gül and other moderate Islamists established the party in 2001, and it won control of Turkey’s government in 2002. Before becoming president, Gül served as prime minister and foreign minister. He became the first Turkish president with an Islamist background. The Turkish Republic has been secular (nonreligious) since its creation in 1923.
Abdullah Gül was born in Kayseri, in central Anatolia, on Oct. 29, 1950. He graduated from Istanbul University in 1971. He earned a doctorate in economics in 1983. Besides his native Turkish, Gül speaks English and Arabic. In 1980, he married Hayrünnisa Özyurt, who became the first Turkish first lady to wear a hijab, the traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women. The couple have two sons, Mehmet Emre and Ahmet Münir, and a daughter, Kübra.
In 1983, Gül moved to Saudi Arabia to work for the Islamic Development Bank, an institution that promotes economic progress in Muslim countries. He worked there until 1991, when he returned to Turkey to become an associate professor in international economics at Istanbul University. That same year, Gül was elected to represent his hometown of Kayseri in the national legislature. He was a member of a conservative Islamist party called the Welfare Party. After the Welfare Party was banned in 1998, Gül helped form the more liberal Justice and Development Party. From 1992 to 2001, Gül was also a member of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. After general elections in 2002, Gül briefly served as prime minister. After Recep Tayyip Erdogan became prime minister in 2003, Gül became foreign minister and deputy prime minister. He became president on Aug. 28, 2007. Gül remains a member of the Turkish legislature.
As president, Gül worked for Turkish membership in the European Union and for improved relations with European and Muslim nations. He also made efforts to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, a nation long in conflict with Turkey.
