Mobilizing Turkey for a commonly-appealing specific goal, such as the election of President Abdullah Gul as UN Secretary-General in 2016, will simultaneously institutionalize Turkish foreign policy while also moderating it, according to Mehmet Kalyoncu, advisor to the Organization of the Islamic Conference's ambassador to the United Nations.

“Gul would make an excellent UN Secretary-General, as he served as foreign minister, prime minister and president of a country which shares almost the entire UN agenda from promoting development in Africa to countering terrorism and incitement to hatred on the basis of religion and race. For the candidacy in 2016, Ankara would be required to pursue an intensive lobbying campaign not only at the UN, but also in every capital represented at the UN This effort would temper Ankara's foreign policy as it should feel obliged not to disagree with the permanent members of the Security Council on issues that are sensitive to them,” Kalyoncu wrote in an article titled “Turkey’s Abdullah Gul should run for the UN Secretary-General.”

“Gul's campaign for UN Secretary-General would promote Turkey's ability to be a power broker while simultaneously forcing Ankara to rationalize its policies and avoid sentimentalism when dealing with sensitive issues. This would strengthen its legitimacy, increase its viability and help spare the popular Davutoglu from unfair allegations of self-promotion. In any event, even if Gul were not elected as the UN Secretary-General, Turkey would benefit from the process in multiple ways,” he wrote.