Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends joint press conference following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, March 5, 2020. Pavel Golovkin / Pool via REUTERS / File Photo
President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday appointed a prominent member of Turkey’s AK party, Mehmet Mus, as trade minister, and split another ministry in two, with officials saying it was the first move in a bid to stir the cabinet.
In a presidential decree, Ruhsar Pekcan, the highest woman in the cabinet, was replaced as Mus’s trade minister, who is close to former finance minister and Erdogan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, a divisive party figure. Read more
The decree, published in the Official Gazette, gave no reason for change, but comes after opposition politicians accused the Pekcan ministry of buying supplies from her family business and asked her to resign.
The Ministry of Commerce confirmed that a purchase of sanitary products was made, but stated in a statement on Tuesday that the choice is based only on price and not due to “the name of the company that makes the sale”.
He said the sale, worth about £ 500,000 ($ 62,000), was carried out in accordance with relevant regulations.
Erdogan’s overnight changes come amid speculation about a broader reshuffle of the cabinet after he changed the country’s top economic leadership in November, including the central bank governor.
A senior government official told Reuters that further changes are expected in four or five ministries after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ends in mid-May.
“There was generally an expectation of the cabinet reshuffle and this is still true. But Pekcan’s health incident was not acceptable,” the official said, adding that Erdogan will make the final decision on any other changes.
ALBAYRAK ALLIES
Mus, a member of the AK party in 2011 and a former vice president of economics, was among the first to defend Albayrak’s case and asked to remain in office when Albayrak abruptly resigned as finance minister in November.
Rapid turnover over the past two months at strong state and financial institutions has left other Albayrak allies in the lead, including Salim Arda Ermut, the new executive director of Turkey’s Wealth Fund.
Foreign investors have withdrawn from Turkey because of unorthodox policies under Albayrak’s supervision, including the sale of about $ 128 billion in foreign currency through state-owned banks in 2019 and 2020, which have largely depleted the central bank’s reserves. Read more
“Mus was close to Albayrak,” said a person close to the AK Party who also asked for anonymity.
“Expectations to reshuffle the cabinet have not ended with this move. The president is adjusting his schedule,” he added.
According to the decree, Erdogan also set up two new ministries by dividing the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy into two separate ministries.
He appointed Derya Yanik as Minister of Social and Family Policy and Vedat Bilgin as Minister of Labor and Social Security in place of Zehra Zumrut Selcuk.
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