Turkey's president on Wednesday approved his new cabinet, including a minister to oversee Turkey's European Union bid, as the prime minister vowed to pursue economic stability, an active foreign policy and reforms to improve rights and freedoms. President Abdullah Gul swiftly signed off on a Cabinet proposed by his old ally, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The 26-member Cabinet, which includes six new members, is deccribed as being designed to focus on social welfare and on drafting a new constitution, a legacy of the 1980 military coup, to improve rights and freedoms. "Our government's program will focus on the new constitution, progressive democracy and basic rights and freedoms as well as economy," Erdogan told reporters.
Egemen Bagis, the country's chief EU negotiator, took over the newly established European Union Ministry, and Ali Babacan, the former economy minister, was appointed a deputy prime minister. Former Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan is taking over the economy ministry and long-term Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul was left out of the Cabinet and replaced.
Erdogan, whose party won a third consecutive term in office in June, said his government would especially take steps to improve social welfare. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu retained his position as Turkey seeks new alliances across the world, while urging Israel, an old ally, to apologise and offer compensation to nine Turkish citizens that were killed in a botched Israeli raid on an aid ship that attempted to break Israel's blockade on Gaza last year.
The government's program will be read in Parliament on Friday. A confidence vote is expected to take place next week. The ruling Justice and Development Party has 327 seats in the 550-seat parliament, more than the simple majority required to win the vote of confidence.
The main opposition party, which has refused to take the parliamentary oath, is not expected to participate in the voting. A Kurdish party is also boycotting parliament in protest of court rulings keeping eight newly elected lawmakers in jail. The opposition parties argue that the jailed lawmakers are entitled to parliamentary immunity that would free them from jail because they are still on trial and have not been convicted. They have called on Erdogan's party to rapidly enact changes allowing them to take up their parliamentary seats. Erdogan on Wednesday criticised the opposition parties for "failing to meet their responsibilities."