Turkish president unconcerned about standing trial in fraud case

"If a result arises in favor of the claims after the legal process concludes, I will not have any concerns on my behalf," Turkish President Abdullah Gul told a joint press conference with his Slovenian counterpart, Danilo Turk, in Ankara.

An Ankara court ruled Monday that Gul should stand trial in a case involving members of the Welfare Party, or RP, convicted of embezzling money from the public Treasury in the 1990s. The Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office had earlier ruled for the dismissal of legal proceedings against Gul over the case publicly known as "the missing trillions."  

A court of appeals now will have the final say on the case, as legal experts remain divided over whether Gul can stand trial. As president, Gul enjoys immunity.      

Gul declined to comment on the timing of the court ruling, saying that he did not want debates to deteriorate into a battle of words.

"The RP had more than 10 deputy leaders. I was deputy leader in charge of foreign policy and had nothing to do with financial affairs," he said, adding as a deputy he enjoyed parliamentary immunity and did not stand trial.

"But even when I was deputy prime minister, I asked that my immunity be removed. (Parliamentary) immunity is not valid in a state governed by the rule of law. The case was seen and was rejected because we were not found responsible," Gul noted.

Gul, a co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, was elected president in 2007. The fraud case dates back to the late 1990s, when the RP, a predecessor to the AKP, was accused of misappropriating funds from the Treasury.

Several executives of the banned Islamic-rooted RP, of which Gul was the deputy chairman at the time, were convicted of falsifying party records and hiding millions of dollars in cash reserves ordered seized after the party was shut down in 1998.