New Cabinet brings more loyalists to government

Turkey's new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announces his cabinet ministers in Ankara on Aug. 29. (Photo: AP)

August 29, 2014, Friday/ 13:04:42/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ANKARA

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Turkey's newly appointed prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, announced on Friday the new Cabinet, by which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan brought more loyalists to the government.

Three important figures of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have been for the first time included in the Council of Ministers of the AK Party government: Two of them, Yalçın Akdoğan, who served as chief political adviser to Erdoğan during Erdoğan's term as prime minister, and Numan Kurtulmuş, who was deputy chairman of the party, were appointed deputy prime ministers in the new Cabinet.

The third, Nurettin Canikli, who was for many years the ruling party's parliamentary group deputy chairman, is to serve as the new minister of customs and trade. In an audio clip that was leaked following a graft probe that went public in December of last year, featuring Canikli and Erdoğan's personal secretary Hasan Doğan, the two are heard complaining that the Court of Accounts' 2012 reports on public spending audits could “ruin” the ruling party should the full reports be brought before Parliament.

Volkan Bozkır, a former ambassador who was head of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, is another newcomer in the Cabinet who is to serve as EU affairs minister.

Davutoğlu, who was appointed late on Thursday evening as the new prime minister by Erdoğan, presented the list of Cabinet members to Erdoğan during a meeting at the presidential palace early on Friday.

Mevlut Çavuşoğlu, who had taken over as EU affairs minister from Egemen Bağış, who had to leave his post when his name was implicated in the sweeping graft probe, is to fill the shoes of Davutoğlu, who served as minister of foreign affairs since May 2009, as minister of foreign affairs.

The two deputy prime ministers who lost their seats in the government after the new Cabinet was approved by Erdoğan are Beşir Atalay and Emrullah İşler. In the previous Cabinet, Atalay served as coordinator of the settlement process launched to resolve the country's Kurdish issue, while İşler was in charge of Turks abroad.

The third figure who lost his seat in the new Council of Ministers is Hayati Yazıcı, former minister of customs and trade.

Newly appointed and former ministers held handover ceremonies at the ministries. During the handover ceremony between Atalay and newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Akdoğan, Atalay said he requested to be removed from the post of deputy prime minister for personal reasons. Akdoğan, adopting Erdoğan's discourse, said he would do his best for the construction of the new Turkey.

There has been no change, as is the case with the rest of the Cabinet, in the top economy management of the 62nd government of Turkey. Ali Babacan, as deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, Nihat Zeybekçi, as minister of economy, and Mehmet Şimşek, as minister of finance, kept their seats in the new government.

Babacan kept his post as expected, possibly with Davutoğlu's support, although he is known to have differences of opinion with Erdoğan regarding the direction of the economy. Babacan is the only AK Party member who has served as a minister in all the AK Party governments over the past 12 years. The speculation that Zeybekçi might, as part of a more comprehensive change in the government, lose his seat in the government turned out to be wrong.

Bülent Arınç, a heavyweight in the ruling party, kept his post as deputy prime minister despite speculation that he may be left out of the Cabinet as he sided with former President Abdullah Gül in Gül's attempt to return to the ruling party as its leader after Erdoğan.

Former Transportation and Maritime Affairs Minister Binali Yıldırım was also expected to be appointed deputy prime minister, but he was left out of the government. Yıldırım, a close figure to Erdoğan, was allegedly the person whom Erdoğan originally wanted to see as prime minister after him. It is rumored that Erdoğan may assign Yıldırım as an adviser to the president.

Despite rumors in political circles in Ankara in the past weeks that Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik and Food, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Mehdi Eker might also be left out of the new Cabinet, both kept their posts.

Some leading figures of the ruling party such as Süleyman Soylu and Hüseyin Çelik, both of whom serve as deputy chairmen in the party, were left out of the Cabinet. Commenting on the changes in the government to NTV, Çelik said he was surprised to learn that Yazıcı, former minister of customs and trade, was excluded from the government. Otherwise, the newly appointed ministers were no surprise to him, he added.

A speculation that Hakan Fidan, undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), might be considered as minister of foreign affairs proved to be wrong. It is said Erdoğan wants Fidan to keep his current position as Erdoğan is faced with charges of corruption since the graft probe.

Parliament will convene for an extraordinary session on Monday for the program of the new government to be read out. As per a Parliament bylaw, Parliament is to discuss the program of the government two days after the program is read out. The new government is to seek to obtain a vote of confidence in Parliament, possibly on Sept. 6 or 8 at the latest.

Among the newcomers in the Cabinet, Çavuşoğlu, minister of foreign affairs, formerly served as chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). He has been a member of Parliament from Antalya since 2002 and deputy chairman of the AK Party in charge of foreign relations since January 2013.

One of the founding members of the AK Party, Çavuşoğlu, 46, was a member of the Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) starting in 2010 and served until 2012. He was chairman of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population between 2006 and 2008. He is currently a member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy and Sub-Committee on Rule of Law. Last year he was awarded the Ukrainian State Order of Merit by then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

Another newcomer, Bozkır, minister of EU affairs, was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at Parliament and also chairman of the Turkey-US Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Caucus. A career diplomat, Bozkır, 64, served as secretary-general for EU affairs between 2009 and 2011.

The list of members of the new government is as follows:

Prime Minister: Ahmet Davutoğlu

Deputy Prime Minister: Bülent Arınç

Deputy Prime Minister: Ali Babacan

Deputy Prime Minister: Yalçın Akdoğan

Deputy Prime Minister: Numan Kurtulmuş

Justice Minister: Bekir Bozdağ

Foreign Minister: Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu

Finance Minister: Mehmet Şimşek

EU Affairs Minister: Volkan Bozkır

Defense Minister: İsmet Yılmaz

Family and Social Policy Minister: Ayşenur İslam