Turkish President Erdogan forms new government with almost complete ministerial staff change

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the formation of his new government, hours after he was inaugurated as president of the country for a new term, which included an almost complete change of the previous ministerial staff.

Erdogan introduced his new ministers at a press conference this evening, Saturday, and announced the appointment of Cevdet Yilmaz as vice president.

The Turkish president announced the appointment of intelligence chief Hakan Fidan as foreign minister in the new government.

Fidan served as head of the intelligence service for 13 years. He was born in 1968, and graduated from the Military School, Department of Languages ​​in the Land Forces.

Fidan turned to academic life after his service in the army, and gave lectures in the field of international relations at the “Hacettepe” and “Bilkent” universities in Ankara, and after that he held important positions in the fields of foreign policy and security at various levels of government.

Muhammad Simsek was assigned to the treasury and finance portfolio, which came in accordance with recent speculation, and his appointment may indicate a possible change in the financial and monetary policy pursued by Ankara in the past years.

Reuters said that Şimşek was highly appreciated by investors when he held the positions of Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister between 2009 and 2018.

President Erdogan also announced the appointment of Ali Yerlikaya, the governor of Istanbul, as Minister of Interior, and assigned Yasar Guler to the position of Minister of Defense.

The country’s ambassador to Algeria, Mahienour Ozdemir Goktas, was appointed Minister of Family and Social Policies in the new government.

Goktas holds both Turkish and Belgian nationalities, and was previously known as the first veiled parliamentarian in Belgium.

Fahrettin Koca retained his position as Minister of Health, and Mehmet Nuri Ersoy retained the portfolio of Culture and Tourism.