President Erdoğan to reshape A-team in the AKP amid anti-Gülen cleansing

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to determine his closest aides and deputy leaders in the administration of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the first meeting he will lead since returning as party chairman, which will follow with a cabinet reshuffle expected later this week. 

The AKP’s recently established 50-seat Central Decision Making and Executive Council (MKYK) will on May 29 come together for the first time since Erdoğan was elected as chairman on May 21. 

Erdoğan will select the Central Executive Committee (MYK) from these 50 members, with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım likely to be appointed as the acting leader to represent the chair, especially at parliament, when the president is not available. 

Around half of the party’s A-team is expected to be changed, amid signals that the AKP will move to clear out politicians accused of having links with the Gülen movement, referred to by prosecutors as the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ). 

The MYK will also select a new spokesperson after previous spokesman Yasin Aktay was left out of the MKYK list. Mahir Ünal, a former Culture and Tourism Minister, is expected to replace Aktay, according to private broadcaster CNN Türk. 

Following the meeting, President Erdoğan will host the members of the MKYK and their spouses at an iftar dinner on May 29. 

A cabinet reshuffle is expected to take place later this week after the completion of the renewal of the AKP’s cadres.