PM makes minor changes to A-team

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The changes show that Erdoğan is planning to run with his old friends.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has chosen to make a number of minor changes to his Justice and Development Party (AKP) “A-team,” introducing new faces like Numan Kurtulmuş and Osman Can while leaving out controversial Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin.

The new list of the AKP’s Central Decision-making Council (MKYK) had still yet to be finalized late Sunday when the Hürriyet Daily News went to print. However, the draft list did not include Şahin in the 50-seat MKYK. He has been one of Erdoğan’s right hand men since the early 1990s.

Şahin has recently been subject to regular criticism, even from his own party, for his statements on the Kurdish question.

As expected, Kurtulmuş and the former leader of the Democrat Party Süleyman Soylu entered the list, along with former Constitutional Court rapporteur Osman Can, former leader of the conservative businessmen association Ömer Bolat, and Prof. Yasin Aktay.

Ministers Ahmet Davutoğlu, Ali Babacan, Beşir Atalay, Bülent Arınç, Hayati Yazıcı kept their seats while Fatma Şahin, Bekir Bozdağ, Mehmet Şimşek and Sadullah Ergin also joined the team. Hüseyin Çelik, Ömer Çelik, Abdülkadir Aksu, and Reha Denemeç – all seen as close to Erdoğan - also entered the list.
Some of the other figures who found a place in the MKYK are Abdülhamit Gül, Ahmet Demircan, Çiğdem Erdoğan Atabey, Menderes Türel, Hale Ersoy, and Fazilet Dağcı Çığlık. Former Trade Minister Kürşat Tüzmen, Necati Çetinkaya, Sait Yazıcıoğlu, Ayşe Böhürler, Nur Özkaya, and Suat Kınıklıoğlu lost their seats at the MKYK.