Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has approved the 65th government of the Turkish Republic formed by the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party Binali Yildirim. The new government was announced at a press conference in Ankara.
Deputy prime ministers Tugrul Turkes, Mehmet Simsek and Numan Kurtulmus remain in office. Veysi Kaynak and Nurettin Canikli became new deputy prime ministers.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Interior Minister Efkan Ala and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak kept their posts. Among the new members of the Government are the Finance Minister Naci Agbal, National Defense Minister Fikri Isik, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avci and Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik, RIA Novosti reports.
It is expected that the government will make public its program this week, after which the Parliament will give a vote of confidence to the new government.
Yildirim, who earlier served as the Minister of Transport and Maritime Economy, was elected the new chairman of the country's ruling Justice Development Party at its extraordinary congress. After that Erdogan accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and ordered to form a new Cabinet to Yildirim.
Political scientist Farouk Lokoglu said, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, that there will be no major changes in the Cabinet. "In fact, nothing has changed even in the economic bloc, despite the change of ministers. For example, Yıldırım kept Mehmet Simsek as the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of international exchange and financial markets. There were many people who supported his staying in the government, as today Simsek is a more viable option for Turkey, well, these expectations are confirmed," Lokoglu said.
According to him, by keeping Simsek in office, Erdogan sends a message to the West: Simsek is in office and you can also trust him, and thus, you can trust us and our previous economic policy. "Also, Erdogan once again wants to show that, henceforth, all foreign and domestic policy will be in his hands," the political scientist noted.
According to Lokoglu, the new government does not a new administration policy in this area. "The president was guided by political motives, not economic ones. The current composition of the government is made up of apolitical officials and confidants of the president," the expert pointed out, adding that this can be judged by the fact that the first meeting of the new Cabinet will be held in Erdogan's residence.
As a result, Ankara will continue its previous course under Yıldırım's office. "Today, there is the worst democratic situation in the country and its foreign policy is a complete failure. I think that the further deterioration of relations with the EU is possible. All Erdogan did is to appoint his own people. If there is a change in Turkey's foreign or economic policies, it will depend on the president's decisions," Faruk Lokoglu concluded.
