Turkey president approves new cabinet list drafted by upcoming PM
Xinhua, May 24, 2016 Adjust font size:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has approved a cabinet list to form the 65th government drafted by the upcoming Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday, two days after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) elected him as new chairman.
AKP's new leader Yildirim has announced the new cabinet after he was given the mandate to form a new government by the President on Sunday.
Tugrul Turkes, Nurettin Canikli, Mehmet Simsek, Numan Kurtulmus have resumed their posts as deputy prime ministers while Veysi Kaynak joined the deputy prime ministers in the new cabinet.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag and Interior Minister Efkan Ala kept their positions.
AKP's spokesperson Omer Celik becomes EU Affairs Minister and Chief Negotiator. Nihat Zeybekci has been appointed as the new economy minister.
Former Science Minister Fikri Isik is appointed as minister of defense. Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya named as new family and social policies minister, while former minister of defense Ismet Yilmaz became minister of education.
There are nine new names in the cabinet. Faruk Ozlu named as minister for science, Industry and Technology, and while Ahmet Arslan has been named as the transport, Maritime and Communication minister, replacing the newly-appointed prime minister Yildirim.
The new cabinet will convene on Wednesday at the helm of President Erdogan, who aims to overhaul of the Turkish constitution that would give presidency many of the executive powers that traditionally belong to the prime minister.
Yildirim will succeed Ahmet Davutoglu, who was forced out of office due to disagreement with President Erdogan. Endit