Türkiye announces new cabinet

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has appointed a new vice president and a cabinet to serve until 2028 with the intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, becoming Türkiye’s new foreign minister and internationally reputed economist Mehmet Şimşek the country’s new finance and treasury minister.

The new cabinet was announced late on June 3 by Erdoğan after he officially started his five-year term by swearing in as the country’s re-elected president. He disclosed the names of the vice president and ministers at a press conference after a dinner he hosted for the world leaders who attended the inauguration ceremony.

“Our nation defended its will along with its independence and future. Today Türkiye is stronger than yesterday. Our democracy is more resilient than ever. Our tomorrows are brighter now compared to before May 28 [polls[,” Erdoğan said at the beginning of the press conference.

Erdoğan announced that his vice president will be Cevdet Yılmaz who will replace Fuat Oktay. Yılmaz is one of the most experienced politicians from the ranks of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Yılmaz had served as the minister for development between 2011 and 2015 and as the head of the parliament’s budgetary commission in the previous years. He is an economist and known to be a close associate of newly appointed Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek.

MİT chief to the Foreign Ministry

One of the most attention-grabbing appointments of this cabinet is for the Foreign Ministry. Hakan Fidan, who was running the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) since 2010, will serve as the foreign minister, replacing Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

Apart from the fight against terror, Fidan has also been engaged in many diplomatic processes from Libya to Syria, Ukraine to Iraq. Under Fidan’s rule, the MİT has expanded its influence in Türkiye’s immediate neighborhood and became one of the most useful components of the Turkish foreign policy.

The intelligence service has hugely contributed in the Turkish government’s efforts to normalize ties with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. Fidan has also been involved in talks with the Syrian government for the normalization of ties.

Former top soldier as defense minister

Türkiye’s new defense minister will be Yaşar Güler, the current chief of general staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). He is replacing Hulusi Akar who had been promoted as the minister after years of service as the chief of general staff.

Former AKP lawmaker, Yılmaz Tunç will replace Bekir Bozdağ as the justice minister in the new cabinet. Earlier, Tunç had served as the deputy parliamentary group leader of the AKP. A graduate of a Law Faculty, he also served as the head of the Justice Commission at the parliament.

As for the Interior Ministry, Erdoğan chose to appoint Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya. Yerlikaya, who has been serving as the governor in Türkiye’s most populous city, replaced Süleyman Soylu who is now a member of parliament.

Deputy AKP leader Mehmet Özhaseki has been appointed as the minister for environment, urbanization and climate change. He had served as the mayor of Kayseri for three consecutive terms before running for the Ankara municipality in 2019 against the opposition representative Mansur Yavaş.

The only woman in the cabinet

The only woman in Erdoğan’s cabinet is Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş. She will run the Family and Social Services Ministry. As a non-career diplomat, her last posting was as Türkiye’s Ambassador to Algeria. Born in Belgium, Göktaş had been elected as a member of parliament from the ranks of the Belgian Humanist Party in 2009. She had been expelled from the party after she refused to recognize the 1915 events as a genocide.

Yusuf Tekin, former undersecretary of the Education Ministry will serve as the minister, while Ömer Bolat will be responsible for the Trade Ministry. Three deputy ministers have been promoted as ministers by Erdoğan. İbrahim Yumaklı will serve as the minister for forestry and agriculture, Mehmet Fatih Kacır as industry and technology minister and Alparslan Bayraktar as the energy minister.

Abdülkadir Uraloğlu will serve as the transportation and infrastructure minister in the new cabinet. Osman Aşkın Bak will serve as the youth and sports minister.

In the meantime, two ministers from the previous government have protected their jobs. Fahrettin Koca will continue to run the Health Ministry and Mehmet Nuri Ersoy as the culture and tourism minister.