Turkey's Cabinet Members Named

Following a housecleaning of his Cabinet amid a rising corruption scandal, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his replacements for 10 cabinet posts Dec. 25, including those of three members who resigned earlier in the day. All but the new minister of justice, Bekir Bozdag, are newcomers and little known. Bozdag, a former vice premier, is a theologian who has been a member of parliament for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, since 2002. As reported by the Turkish daily Turkiye, the other new Cabinet members include:
Deputy Prime Minister: Emrullah Isler, an AKP lawmaker from Ankara. He is a graduate of King Saud University in Saudi Arabia with a doctorate in Islamic studies.
Minister for European Union Affairs: Mevlut Cavusoglu, an AKP lawmaker from Antalya. He reportedly is fluent in English, German and Japanese and has a graduate degree from Long Island University.
Interior Minister: Efkan Ala, an undersecretary in the prime ministry. He served as governor of Diyarbakir province from 2004 to 2007.
Minister of Families and Social Policy: Aysenur Islam, a former professor of English and Turkish literature.
Economy Minister: Nihat Zeybekci, an AKP lawmaker from Denizli. He was mayor of Denizli from 2004 to 2011.
Minister of Industry and Technology: Fikri Isik, an AKP lawmaker from Kocaeli. He served in numerous provincial posts as an AKP operative and most recently headed the parliamentary committee on culture, youth and sports.
Minister of Environment and Urban Planning: Idris Gulluce, an AKP lawmaker from Istanbul. He is a former Istanbul city councilman, and he worked in Libya for many years as a private engineer.
Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications: Lutfi Elvan, an AKP parliamentarian from Karaman. Elvan has a degree from Istanbul Technical University in mineral science, did research at the University of Leeds in England and holds a master's in economics from Delaware University.
Minister of Youth and Sports: Akif Cagatay Kilic, an AKP parliamentarian from Samsun. He is a member of the Iran-Turkey and Canada-Turkey "friendship groups" in parliament.

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re...

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has ...

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, sp...

ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Search This Blog