TURKEY: Turkey's outgoing president declines to approve PM's new cabinet list

Turkey's outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer declines to approve Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's new cabinet list on Thursday. Erdogan says he sees the move not as a snub but as an act of courtesy to the new president. Turkey's outgoing president declined to approve Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's new cabinet line-up on Thursday (August 16) and said the premier should instead submit the list to the next head of state. Erdogan, who had been expected to unveil a cabinet dominated by economic reformers, said Ahmet Necdet Sezer's attitude in their meeting was "very positive" and his move should not be seen as a snub. "We can say his move was a courtesy towards the new president," Erdogan said, making clear there were no ill feelings. However, he said Sezer's move had come as a surprise. Sezer is a staunch secularist critic of Erdogan's ruling AK Party, which has Islamist roots, and has often vetoed its laws and appointments. Sezer is set to retire after Turkey's parliament has elected his successor later this month. The AK Party has re-nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as its candidate and he is expected to win on a third round of voting on Aug. 28 when he needs only a simple majority. The AK Party has 341 of the 550 seats in the assembly. "Our respected president said we should present the list to the new president," Erdogan told a news conference after a brief meeting with Sezer at the presidential residence in Ankara. Erdogan's centre-right, pro-business AK Party won a decisive victory in a July 22 parliamentary election. Erdogan is expected to bring many new faces into his cabinet in an effort to accelerate economic and political reforms in Turkey. Parliament starts voting for a new president on Monday. Gul, like Erdogan, is an ex-Islamist distrusted by Turkey's powerful secular elite, which derailed his first bid to become head of state in May. That move forced Erdogan to call the parliamentary election months ahead of schedule.

ITN Source | August 17, 2007

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