Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has kept key members of the previous government’s economic management team in place and named Ankara’s point man on Europe as foreign minister in a new cabinet yesterday, spelling little policy shift.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who had held sway over politics as prime minister since 2003, was sworn in on Thursday as Turkey’s first popularly-elected president, cementing his position as its most powerful leader of recent times.
Erdogan is likely to retain influence over the new team, with his former aide Yalcin Akdogan and Numan Kurtulmus, the deputy chairman of the ruling AK Party and another close ally, both named as deputy prime ministers.
“This cabinet carries Erdogan’s signature,” says Huseyin Yayman, a columnist and political science professor at Ankara’s Gazi University.
The new government takes office at a challenging time for Turkey, with economic growth - one of the pillars on which the popularity of the AK Party is based - slowing and the map of the Middle East being rapidly redrawn around it.
There are no breaks with the former political team of Erdogan, especially on economic policy. It shows that the Davutoglu government is very much aware of Turkey’s economic vulnerability and is not going to take any risks.
Outgoing EU Affairs Minister and career diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu becomes foreign minister, replacing Davutoglu, suggesting that reinvigorating Turkey’s stalled European Union membership negotiations could be a priority.
Volkan Bozkir, the former head of parliament’s foreign relations commission who has held several diplomatic posts in Europe, takes over as EU minister.
Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, who had responsibility for economic affairs in the last cabinet, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci all kept their posts, as did Energy Minister Taner Yildiz.
Babacan is widely respected by foreign investors, who hope he will retain responsibility for economic affairs.
Listing priorities shortly after his appointment, Kurtulmus said Turkey needed to embark on constitutional reform, advance a Kurdish peace process and establish “a new economic programme with the determination to increase our economic power”.
It was not immediately clear whether he would have a formal role on the economic team, with the portfolios of the four deputy prime ministers expected to be clarified after the first cabinet meeting in the coming days.
Erdogan has said that the new cabinet under Davutoglu will not simply be a “caretaker” government, addressing fears that he will continue to try to dominate daily politics, but a deeper shake-up is likely after a general election due next June.
Victory in Turkey’s first popular presidential election this month gave Erdogan a fresh mandate to push on with what he sees as a historic mission to transform Turkey domestically and as a regional power.
