ANKARA: President Tayyip Erdogan promised on Friday to make government more efficient when Turkey’s new executive presidency is inaugurated next week, saying the new cabinet would include ministers not from his AK Party.
The shift to a presidential system, fulfilling Erdogan’s vision some 15 years after he first came to power, will culminate on Monday when he takes his oath for a five-year term after victory in elections on June 24.
“We are speeding up the functioning of the state and making it more efficient by merging institutions that do similar work and dissolving those which are idle,” he told party officials in his first major speech since the elections.
Turks backed the shift in political system by a narrow majority in a referendum last year. Critics say the transformation will erode democracy in the NATO-member state and entrench one-man rule.
Under the changes, the post of prime minister will be scrapped. The president will select his own cabinet, form and regulate ministries and remove civil servants, all without parliamentary approval.
“We are putting together a cabinet with ministers who are not from the party,” Erdogan said, adding this would give them the “opportunity to view events in a more objective way.” He was set to announce the new cabinet on Monday evening.
Senior AKP official Mustafa Elitas told reporters he thought one or two ministers may be selected from among lawmakers, but the cabinet would predominantly be made up of people from outside the assembly, possibly including former ministers.
Final election results on Wednesday showed Erdogan’s AKP won 295 seats in the 600-seat assembly in the parliamentary vote, with its nationalist MHP ally taking 49 seats. He won 52.59 percent of votes in the presidential election.
Sources have said Erdogan could give the MHP posts in the cabinet, rewarding their support for the AKP in parliament and signalling a tough line against US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria and militants at home.
Erdogan will take his oath in parliament on July 9 at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) before a ceremony at his palace, ushering in the executive presidency and replacing a parliamentary system in which the prime minister and government had held most power.
A decree published this week has already made changes to laws dating from 1924 — just after the founding of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — to 2017, removing references to the prime minister.
Turkey’s Erdogan vows more efficient government, non-party ministers
Turkey’s Erdogan vows more efficient government, non-party ministers
- President Tayyip Erdogan promised on Friday to make government more efficient when Turkey’s new executive presidency is inaugurated next week.
- He also said the new cabinet would include ministers not from his AK Party.
Tunisians revive protests in Gabes over pollution from state chemical plant
- People chanted mainly “Gabes wants to live“
- The powerful UGTT union has called for a nationwide strike next month
TUNIS: Around 2,500 Tunisians marched through the coastal city of Gabes on Wednesday, reviving protests over pollution from a state-owned phosphate complex amid rising anger over perceived failures to protect public health.
People chanted mainly “Gabes wants to live,” on the 15th anniversary of the start of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that sparked the Arab Spring movement against autocracy.
The protest added to the pressure on President Kais Saied’s government, which is grappling with a deep financial crisis and growing street unrest, protests by doctors, journalists, banks and public transport systems.
The powerful UGTT union has called for a nationwide strike next month, signalling great tension in the country. The recent protests are widely seen as one of the biggest challenges facing Saied since he began ruling by decree in 2021.
Protesters chanted slogans such as “We want to live” and “People want to dismantle polluting units,” as they marched toward Chatt Essalam, a coastal suburb north of the city where the Chemical Group’s industrial units are located.
“The chemical plant is a fully fledged crime... We refuse to pass on an environmental disaster to our children, and we are determined to stick to our demand,” said Safouan Kbibieh, a local environmental activist.
Residents say toxic emissions from the phosphate complex have led to higher rates of respiratory illnesses, osteoporosis and cancer, while industrial waste continues to be discharged into the sea, damaging marine life and livelihoods.
The protests in Gabes were reignited after hundreds of schoolchildren suffered breathing difficulties in recent months, allegedly caused by toxic fumes from a plant converting phosphates into phosphoric acid and fertilizers.
In October, Saied described the situation in Gabes as an “environmental assassination”, blaming policy choices made by previous governments, and has called for urgent maintenance to prevent toxic leaks.
The protesters reject the temporary measures and are demanding the permanent closure and relocation of the plant.
