Gul: I won't rule out presidency

(CNN) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, whose presidential nomination sparked massive protests three months ago, said Wednesday he would not rule out another run for the post.

"There's not a condition where I won't be a candidate," Gul said at a news conference in Ankara.

"We have to respect people's determination and we also have to respect the democracy and rep sect the process with maturity," he added.

Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, stood by its refusal to support a Gul candidacy.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party -- which has Islamist roots -- claimed a new five-year mandate from Turkish voters in Sunday's elections after results showed it winning a slightly reduced majority in parliament.

The elections were moved up after opposition lawmakers blocked Gul, who was chosen by Erdogan to become the country's president.

The nomination sparked a political stalemate and massive protests from secular Turks who feared Erdogan's Justice and Development party, or AKP, would attempt to turn Turkey into an Islamic state.

It also elicited a warning from Turkey's powerful military -- which seized power from civilian governments three times and pushed out a forerunner of the AKP in the 1990s -- that it would step in if necessary to protect the republic's secular tradition. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Talia Kayali contributed to this report.

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