By Hale Turkes
ANKARA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his predecessor, Abdullah Gul, following a memorial ceremony Friday morning held at the country’s parliament for former head-of-state Suleyman Demirel.
Turkey's ninth president died of heart failure at the age of 91 late Tuesday night.
Erdogan visited Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek in his office after the ceremony in Ankara, when he was joined shortly by Gul.
Friday's closed-door meeting comes on the heels of a recently published memoir by Gul's former adviser, Ahmet Sever, detailing disagreements between then-prime minister Erdogan and Gul during the latter's presidency between 2007 and 2014.
Twelve Years with Abdullah Gul hit the shelves on Monday.
Gul issued a written statement Tuesday rejecting claims that the book was dictated or approved by him, or that it reflected his personal opinions.
"I did not in any way offer any guidance or intervene during the preparation phase [of this book]. Quite the contrary, I even told Ahmet Sever that I was not keen on the idea," Gul said.
Sever, on the other hand, has said that Gul read the whole book, and even made some corrections.
During a live interview aired on Haberturk and Show TV networks late Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the book was not worth considering and he did not take it seriously as it "fails to meet the three elements of a good memoir".
"First, the process must be told well. Second, it must be true, not selective and one-sided. Third, it must really have been written as a memoir, including the content, how it is presented and the timing. When a memoir lacks these three elements, I won't take it seriously," he said.
Erdogan and Gul were both among the founding leaders of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party.
