Turkish president unveils new cabinet after taking oath of office

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unveiled his new cabinet, composed of 16 ministers, after being sworn in with new powers for another five-year term in office.

In a ceremony at the presidential palace in Ankara on Monday, Erdogan named his cabinet, which includes loyalists, technocrats and business figures.

Erdogan appointed his son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, as the new minister of treasury and finance. He had served as the energy and natural resources minister since 2015.

The Turkish president also kept Mevlut Cavusoglu in place as foreign minister and named Fuat Oktay, a former Turkish Airlines executive, as vice president.

Additionally, Turkish armed forces chief of staff General Hulusi Akar will be in charge of the defense ministry. He was taken hostage during the night of the failed military coup in July 2016, which was blamed on US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The first meeting of the new Turkish administration is set to be held on Friday.

The cabinet was unveiled after Erdogan took the oath of office for a second term as president with enhanced powers granted in last year’s narrowly-won referendum.

In April 2017, 51 percent of Turkish voters endorsed constitutional changes backed by Erdogan, which scrapped the post of prime minister and allowed the president to appoint ministers and vice presidents and intervene in the legal system.

Supporters of the reforms argue that they will modernize the country, but opponents fear a possible authoritarian rule.

“We, as Turkey and as the Turkish people, are making a new start here today,” Erdogan said in an address late on Monday. “We are leaving behind the system that has in the past cost our country a heavy price in political and economic chaos.”

He secured an outright victory in the June 24 presidential polls, winning almost 52.3 percent of the votes.

Lawmakers take oaths of office as Recep Tayyip Erdogan starts a new term as president with sweeping new powers.
Separately on Tuesday, a president decree carried by the Turkish Official Gazette appointed ground forces Commander General Yasar Guler as the new chief of the general staff, replacing Akar.

The decree also said that the president will appoint the central bank governor, deputies and monetary policy committee members for a 4-year period.

Erdogan faces economic problems such as high interest rates and inflation as well as a plunging currency that has lost 17 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of 2018.

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