December 22, 2008 - 18:19 AMT
Gul denies rumors about his mother's Armenian origin
Turkish President Abdullah Gul denies rumors about his mother's Armenian origin.

In his statement yesterday, Gul announced that his mother's side, the Satoglu family from Kayseri, and his father's side, the Gul family also from Kayseri, are Muslim and Turkish, according to centuries of written genealogy records.

"I respect the ethnic background, different beliefs and family ties of all my citizens and see this as a reality and also the wealth of our country with its imperial history. I also would like to emphasize that all my citizens are equal to one another regardless of any differences. No one has any superiority whatsoever over another one. Everybody has the equal and same rights under the guarantee of our Constitution," the statement read. "I am proud of our country, which has reached this level of understanding."

When Gul was asked for his opinion on the campaign, he said the state's position is to improve relations with its neighbors. "We believe dialogue to be the solution for problems we have with our neighbors. Perpetuating problems is not useful for anyone," he said.

Member of MHP, parliamentarian Canan Aritman "reminded" of the Armenian origin of the President's mother. "Abdullah Gul should be the president of the whole Turkish nation, not of his ethnic origin. Investigate the ethnic origin of the president's mother, and you will see," she said.