Deputy PM Akdoğan tasked to coordinate anti-Gülenist fight, Syrian migrants efforts

ANKARA

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Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, a highly visible figure with a large portfolio already, has been tasked with the additional duties of coordinating both the government’s fight against the activities of the “parallel state structure,” a purported illegal organization allegedly led by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and its activities concerning Syrian refugees.

A related circular signed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was published in the repeated addition of the Official Gazette and went into force on April 8.

Accordingly, Akdoğan has been tasked for additional duties which were listed as: “1. Coordination of the fight undertaken against illegal formations which conduct illegal activity under legal disguise,” and “2. Coordination concerning Syrian refugees.”

The wording was reminiscent of the wording of an October 2014 statement by the National Security Council (MGK), which publicly documented the Gülen movement as one of the leading threats against the country’s national security.

The MGK statement at the time “emphasized that the struggle against parallel structures and illegal formations, which threaten our national security, disrupt public order and conduct illegal activity under domestic and foreign legal disguises, will be continued with determination.”

In November 2015, when Davutoğlu formed the 64th government of the Republic of Turkey, Akdoğan was appointed as the deputy prime minister in charge of the Directorate General of Foundations, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB).

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, also since November 2015, has been acting as the spokesperson for the government, while he has also been in charge of “conducting affairs related to public diplomacy.”

Particularly through work by the Turkish Prime Ministry Office of Public Diplomacy (KDK), Kurtulmuş has led many meetings focused on the coordination of efforts regarding Syrian refugees.