PM Yıldırım signals shift in cabinet

ANKARA

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Injecting fresh blood into the cabinet is a necessity for democracy, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said, hinting at a revision in key posts within the cabinet in the following months.

“It wouldn’t be right for me to speak about names, about who’ll come and who’ll go,” Yıldırım said in an interview with Bloomberg on April 24.

“But you’ll also appreciate that from time to time, injecting fresh blood in the cabinet is a necessity of democracy,” he said.

“When appropriate, we could make a change. We’ll do this in a process of consultation with our president,” Yıldırım added.

“I think that in coming months, we’ll definitely take up this subject,” he said.

After the official announcement of the referendum results by the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) and the publishing of the result in the Official Gazette, the president will have the right to re-establish his party ties since the amendment lifts the article banning the presidents from being impartial.

Yıldırım earlier said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would send an invitation to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to reinstate his membership with the party, adding that Erdoğan’s chairmanship would be reinstated at a congress in 2018. 

However, the hint at a cabinet revision raised questions about the possibility of an extraordinary congress before 2018.

“The first step is to make our president a member of our party again. He can be a member right away, and we’ll happily invite our president to our party. There’s also no barrier to him becoming chairman. This is naturally his wish. We won’t show any hesitation in making this happen,” he said.

“We could at any time decide to have the general congress without holding the provincial congresses, of course. We’ve done it before; it’s also possible now. I never said before that we wouldn’t have an extraordinary congress,” he added.

He also debunked rumors of early elections.

“On principle, we don’t like early elections because early elections bring uncertainty, whether on the economy or on other issues. Outside of this [elections scheduled for 2019], there appears to be no other election. And there’s nothing right now that would move us to early elections,” he said.

Underlining economic stability, Yıldırım also said the difference in economic policy and Erdoğan’s adviser’s comments should not be taken as a reference.

“The advisers can say whatever they want, but the responsibility is with us,” he said.