Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Turkey’s New Interim Gov’t Formed Amid Partisanship Criticisms

Turkey’s New Interim Gov’t Formed Amid Partisanship Criticisms

ANKARA - Turkey's interim government formed by caretaker Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu brought independents, nationalists and Kurdish politicians to the cabinet amid mounting criticism of partisanship from the opposition.

Davutoglu announced the new interim cabinet on Friday after the collapse of the coalition talks that led to the call by President RecepTayyipErdogan for snap election on Nov. 1.

He kept roughly half of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ministers in the new cabinet while bringing two nationalists and two pro-Kurdish politicians to the cabinet.

The rest was appointed from independents that are former politicians or bureaucrats.

"This cabinet has no function other than serving to the president," Mustafa Balbay, the lawmaker from the opposition Republican Peoples' Party (CHP), said.

President Erdogan, who still wields serious clout within the AKP, has come under fire for being partisan since he became a president a year ago. He is said to favor a snap election with a hope that the AKP will regain its lost strength and preside a single-party government after early election.

Turkish analysts also see the footprints of Erdogan on the formation of the new cabinet.

Omer Sahin, long-time observer of Turkish politics in Ankara, said the interim government was clearly shaped by Erdogan who rewarded his loyalist bureaucrats by making them ministers.

"The ministers who are close to Erdogan kept their jobs in the interim government as well," Sahin added.(Xinhua)