Erdoğan appoints new A-team following convention

ANKARA

President and Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has renewed his A-team in the party following the general convention, appointing his closest aides Binali Yıldırım and Numan Kurtulmuş as the deputy leaders and four new figures to his executive board.

Yıldırım, a former prime minister and parliament speaker, has returned to the party management after he lost his race against the opposition candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, for the Istanbul Municipality.

Erdoğan has increased the number of executive board members from 50 to 75 and decided to appoint 47 new figures to the board. Among them are former Parliament Speaker and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, Metin Külünk, former Antalya Mayor Menderes Türel and former deputy parliamentary group leader Özlem Zengin.

Abdurrahim Fırat, a leading Kurdish politician; Abdurrahman Kurt, a former lawmaker from Diyarbakır; Metin Tarhan, a prominent Alevi leader; Sevan Sıvacıoğlu, a prominent member of the Turkish Armenian community; and former journalist Şamil Tayyar are included in the 75-member board. 2006 Miss Turkey Seda Sarıbaş who was serving as the head of the AKP women branch in the province of Aydın is also going to serve at the board.

Erdoğan picked up his 16-member central executive board out of the executive board and appointed four new names as deputy leaders. Hamza Dağ will serve as the responsible for media, Jülide Sarıeroğlu for civil society, Mustafa Şen for research and development and Ömer İleri for information and technology. Hayati Yazıcı will continue his charge with political and legal affairs, Efkan Ala for external relations and Nurettin Canikli for the economy.

Erdoğan also renewed his team at the parliament. Mahir Ünal and Mustafa Elitaş are appointed as deputy parliamentary group leaders along with Bülent Turan, Emin Akbaşoğlu and Cahit Özkan who were already doing this job.