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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in Parliament on Monday. He begins a new five-year term with enhanced powers. In particular, he appointed his son-in-law Berat Albayrak as finance minister.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a new five-year term with greater powers on Monday and unveiled a tight government in which he entrusted his the key position of Finance. Mr. Erdogan, 64, was sworn in to Parliament, committing himself to uphold the principles of secular Turkey founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and to accomplish his task in an "impartial" way . [19659003] In power since 2003, first as prime minister and then president, Erdogan was re-elected on June 24, winning the presidential election in the first round with 52.6% of the vote, far ahead of his competitors. [19659003AftertakingtheoathErdoganlaidawreathattheAtatürkMausoleumbeforepresidingoveraceremonyatthepresidentialpalaceusheringinanewerainTurkey'smodernhistorywiththetransitiontothepresidentialsystemunderthetermsof'aconstitutionalrevisionadoptedbyreferendumwithanarrowmargininApril2017
Welcoming ' a new beginning ' for Turkey, he promised, in an apparent attempt to apa to be an extremely polarized society, to serve all Turks. "I am not only the president of those who voted for me, but of the whole of the 81 million" of Turks, he declared.
His son-in-law to finance [19659007BeratAlbayrakson-in-lawofRecepTayyipErdoganandnewfinanceminister|ADEMALTAN/AFP
In the evening, he unveiled a new cabinet of sixteen ministers (against 26 currently), the most prominent of which is his son-in-law Berat Albayrak, who has been entrusted with the key finance portfolio. The Ministry of Defense has been assigned to Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar. Outgoing Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has been reappointed. Married to Mr. Erdogan's eldest daughter, Esra, Mr. Albayrak, 40, who has held the position of Minister of Energy since 2015, has had an irresistible rise in recent years.
His appointment to Finance comes in a difficult economic environment with high inflation, a sharp devaluation of the currency and a large current account deficit, despite solid growth.
Markets, fearing pressure from Erdogan on the Central Bank, They seem to have been unhappy with Mr Albayrak's appointment to Finance, with the Turkish lira dropping 3.5% in the evening to trade at TRY 4.7 per dollar. In addition to the ministers, Erdogan appointed a technocrat who had previously headed the Turkish Emergency Management Agency (Afad) as vice-president Fuat Oktay.
The accession of Mr. Erdogan at this "hyperpresidence" comes almost two years after an attempted coup on July 15, 2016, led by factious soldiers and followed by large purges including in the armed forces, police and administrations, with the arrest or dismissal of tens of thousands of people.
More than 18,000 sacked officials
The latest wave of purges, announced Sunday, affected more than 18,000 people, mostly soldiers and policemen, who were sacked by a decree-law presented as the last under the state of emergency established in the aftermath of the failed coup.
In the new system, the post of prime minister, occupied by Binali Yil dirim, has been abolished, and the head of state now holds the entire executive power and may promulgate decrees. It will also appoint six of the thirteen members of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), responsible for appointing and removing the judiciary.
"The bulk of the powers will be concentrated in his hands, there will have more Prime Minister and almost none of the checks and balances procedures of a liberal democracy. In other words, Turkey will be an institutionalized autocracy " believes Marc Pierini, a researcher at the Carnegie Institute Europe.
Maduro and Medvedev attended the ceremony
In the legislative elections that took place in At the same time as the presidential election, Erdogan's Islamic conservative party, the AKP, won 295 out of 600 seats and controls parliament only through its alliance with the ultra-nationalists of the MHP, which has 49 elected members.
Many experts fear that this alliance will lead to a tightening of Erdogan's policies, particularly on the Kurdish question.
Foreign leaders, like Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro and Sudanese Omar al-Bashir or the Prime Minister Russian Dmitry Medvedev, attended the ceremony, as well as Bulgarian President Roumen Radev and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
