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New Turkish cabinet includes opposition

Source: The Daily Herald 29 Aug 2015 06:22 AM

ANKARA--Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu appointed nationalist and pro-Kurdish opposition politicians to an interim power-sharing cabinet on Friday, but left his finance and economy ministers unchanged in a team dominated by ruling party loyalists.
  Davutoglu was forced to form the temporary cabinet after his AK Party failed to find a junior coalition partner following the loss of its parliamentary majority in a June election which ended more than a decade of single-party rule. The uncertainty has unnerved investors in Turkey's $870 billion economy and comes as it battles Kurdish militants at home and Islamic State fighters on its borders, helping send the lira currency to a series of record lows.
  The interim cabinet will now lead the NATO member and aspiring European Union candidate to a new election on Nov. 1. Feridun Sinirlioglu, undersecretary at the foreign ministry since 2009, was named as the new foreign minister, a critical post as Turkish fighter jets prepare to ramp up air strikes with U.S.-led coalition forces against Islamic State in Syria.
  Government sources said former development minister Cevdet Yilmaz would meanwhile take over as deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, replacing the highly-regarded Ali Babacan, who leaves office because of a ruling AK Party limit on the number of terms its members can serve in parliament. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci both retained their existing roles.
  Reading the list of appointments without commenting further, Davutoglu named Tugrul Turkes, son of the founder of the nationalist MHP, as one of four deputy prime ministers. The MHP had said it would not join the interim cabinet and Turkes could face expulsion from the party as a result.
  Ali Haydar Konca and Muslum Dogan, members of the pro-Kurdish HDP, were named EU minister and development minister respectively. The presence of Kurdish opposition politicians in cabinet posts, particularly as clashes between the army and Kurdish militants intensify, could stir nationalist anger.
  Istanbul police chief Selami Altinok, who has overseen heavy security measures in Turkey's biggest city in a bid to prevent a repeat of widespread anti-government demonstrations in 2013, was named as the new interior minister.


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