‘Historic’ new govt takes over

A “HISTORIC” four-party coalition government got down to business yesterday as it officially took over the reins of power.

New Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman, leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) which came second in last month’s general election, formally submitted his Cabinet to President Mustafa Akıncı for approval.

The ministerial jobs had been agreed between Dr Erhürman and the leaders of three other parties — the People’s Party (HP), Democrat Party (DP) and Social Democratic Party (TDP) — after they signed a joint protocol to form a new government. The posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have now been merged, with HP leader Kudret Özersay holding both positions.

DP leader and former deputy prime minister Serdar Denktaş has kept his finance portfolio while Özdil Nami, who had since 2015 been Mr Akıncı’s chief negotiator in the Cyprus talks, is now Economy and Energy Minister.

TDP leader Cemal Özyiğit, a former primary schoolteacher and trade unionist, is the new National Education Minister.

Speaking at the signing of the four-way pact on Thursday, Dr Erhürman said the government wanted to form “the best relations with Turkey, at the right level, which will be to the benefit of the country and the people”.

He said that no new “advisory positions” would be created during his tenure and that “only illegal citizenships” would be cancelled.

“Our fundamental objective is to bring about public sector reform,” he added.

The new ministers are meeting today to continue drawing up their government programme, which must be read to MPs within a week, to be followed by a vote of confidence within 24 to 48 hours.

The new Cabinet, p10. The new coalition, pages 8 & 9