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For the third time President Erdogan appoints the new cabinet

2023-06-04 12:50:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has named his new cabinet after being sworn in for a historic third term in office.

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was sworn in to his third presidential term on Saturday, reappointed an internationally respected former banker as finance minister in a sign that his new government may pursue more conventional economic policies.

Mehmet Shimshek is appointed Minister of Finance

Unveiling the line-up of his new cabinet, Erdogan announced the reappointment of Mehmet Simsek - a former finance minister and deputy prime minister - in charge of the economy. Simsek, a former Merrill Lynch banker based in London, returns to the cabinet as treasury and finance minister after a five-year break from politics.

The appointment comes as Turkey faces a cost-of-living crisis, fueled by inflation that peaked at 85% in October before easing to 44% last month. The Turkish currency has lost more than 10% of its value against the dollar since the beginning of the year.

Critics blame the unrest on Erdogan's policy of cutting interest rates to spur growth, which runs counter to conventional economic thinking that rates should rise to fight inflation. Simsek's appointment is seen as an indication that Erdogan may abandon policies that many economists have described as "unorthodox".

Hakan Fidan is appointed Foreign Minister

In other appointments, Erdogan chose as his foreign minister Hakan Fidan, who has headed Turkey's National Intelligence Agency, MIT, since 2010. A former soldier who holds a doctorate in international relations, Fidan replaces Mevlut Çavu?o?lu , who held this post since 2014.

General Yasar Guler is appointed Minister of Defense

Meanwhile, the chief of the military staff, General Yasar Guler, will take over the post of defense minister, Erdogan announced.

Earlier, dozens of foreign dignitaries attended Erdogan's inauguration ceremony at his grand presidential complex in Ankara. They included NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Carl Bildt, a high-profile former Swedish prime minister. Stockholm hopes to pressure Erdogan to drop his country's objections to Sweden joining the military alliance - which requires unanimous approval from all allies.

Turkey accuses Sweden of being too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups Turkey considers terrorists. NATO wants to bring Sweden into the alliance by the time allied leaders meet in Lithuania on July 11-12, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to accept the offer.

Other leaders present included Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of Libya.

The republic will celebrate its centenary in October, and so leading a "new Turkish century" became an important campaign slogan for Erdogan. During his inauguration ceremony, Erdogan hailed "the beginning of the Turkish century, a new period of glory for our country."

Erdogan was sworn in amid a number of other domestic challenges, including pressure to repatriate millions of Syrian refugees and the need to rebuild after a devastating earthquake in February that killed 50,000 and leveled entire cities in the country's south.

In power as prime minister and then president since 2003, Erdogan is now Turkey's longest-serving leader. He has strengthened his rule through constitutional changes that transformed Turkey's presidency from a largely ceremonial role into a powerful office.

Critics say his second decade in office has been marred by a sharp democratic backsliding, including the erosion of institutions such as the media and judiciary, and the jailing of opponents and critics.

Erdogan defeated opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff held on May 28, after he narrowly failed to secure an outright victory in the first round of voting on May 14. Kilicdaroglu had promised to put Turkey on a more democratic path and improve relations with the West. International observers considered the elections to be free, but not fair./ CNA.al