Incoming Turkey PM Unveils New Cabinet Lineup, EU Minister Switched

Local Editor

Turkey's incoming Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday unveiled his new cabinet line-up two days after being given a mandate by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with most key ministers keeping their jobs but the EU minister switched.

Key names in the former cabinet remained in place, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, and Interior Minister Efkan Ala as well as deputy prime minister in charge of economy Mehmet Simsek, in a relief to markets.

In the biggest change, ruling party spokesman Omer Celik will be new EU affairs minister, replacing Volkan Bozkir, one of the brokers of a controversial deal with the European Union to curb the flow of migrants to Europe.

Fikri Isik also replaces Ismet Yilmaz as defense minister and there was no place in the cabinet for powerful deputy prime minister Yalcin Akdogan.

Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak keeps his job as energy minister, after suggestions he could have been promoted to an even more senior job.

Yildirim, seen a close ally of Erdogan, was on Sunday elected by the Justice and Development Party [AKP] as its chairman, replacing Ahmet Davutoglu, who stepped down after a power struggle with the president.

Yildirim made the announcement after a second round of talks with the president at his vast presidential palace in Ankara.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team