Wall Street Journal: "Turkey's premier battles health rumors"

An article entitled "Turkey's Premier Battles Health Rumors" which was written by Joe Parkinson and published on The Wall Street Journal on Sunday indicates that Turkish Prime Minister returned to work last week after months of intermittent surgery. The article defines Erdogan as "the country's most popular and powerful leader for decades," adding, "Pollsters say the prime minister's personal popularity ratings are up to 20 points higher than the party, and that speculation over his health has also focused attention on which AKP lawmakers could emerge as a successor if he were incapacitated, or if he seeks to take the presidency, as widely expected, when incumbent Abdullah Gul steps down in 2014. Until recently it was widely assumed that the 61-year-old Mr. Gul would lead the AKP into the 2015 parliamentary elections, in a Kremlin-style job swap with Mr. Erdogan. An urbane former foreign minister, Mr. Gul is respected in Western capitals and has been seen as the only man who can keep the AKP together if Mr. Erdogan moves to the presidency."