Cabinet Gül Cabinet Gül The cabinet of Abdullah Gül took office on November 19, 2002. He succeeded to the fifth government of Bülent Ecevit. After the Justice and Development Party (AKP) became the biggest party in the general elections of 2002, its leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could not be Prime Minister because of a previous conviction and bar from politics. So the second person in the party, Abdullah Gül, formed the 58th government of Turkey. After the legal and political problems for Erdoğan had been eliminated, Abdullah Gül stepped aside and became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the next government while
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Erdoğan told his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko that Turkey would not recognize the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea; calling it "Crimea's occupation". In January 2017, Erdoğan said that the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Northern Cyprus is "out of the question" and Turkey will be in Cyprus "forever". In March 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated to the Turks in Europe "Make not three, but five children. Because you are the future of Europe. That will be the best response to the injustices against you." This has been interpreted as an imperialist call for demographic warfare. Bilateral trade between