Ankara (INO) – Turkey’s ruling party has picked Binali Yildirim, a long-time ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to be the country’s new prime minister.
Mr Yildirim, Turkey’s minister of transport, maritime and communications, was chosen in a closed vote that will be formalised on Sunday. He replaces Ahmet Davutoglu, whom the president pushed out of the post after being irked by his increasing independence.
Mr Yildirim has worked with the president since the early 1990s, when Mr Erdogan was the mayor of Istanbul. He has served as his minister of transport in three separate administrations since the Justice and Development party (AKP) took power in 2002.
His loyalty is seen as key to Mr Erdogan’s support, as the president prepares for an overhaul of the Turkish constitution that would give his office many of the executive powers that traditionally belong to the prime minister.
Mr Davutoglu, who decided to step down earlier this month, had posed a political challenge to the president by unilaterally negotiating a historic agreement on migrants with the EU. For Mr Erdogan, placing a loyalist in the prime minister’s office allows him to continue running his de facto executive presidency.
However, the Turkish constitution still empowers Mr Yildirim to challenge Mr Erdogan if he so chooses, as it technically makes the prime minister the country’s most powerful legislator. While any such challenges seem unlikely, this still creates a tension that will not be resolved until Turkey holds a referendum on reforming the constitution.
“Mr Yildirim seems to be exceptionally accommodating, but even this relationship may prove to be problematic,” said Ilter Turan, a politics professor at Istanbul’s Bilgi University.
“Legally, as the head of the party and the prime minister, he is legally responsible for all aspects of policy — you cannot consult the president’s opinion at all times. We cannot necessarily assume that because he’s loyal and accommodating that things will be hunky dory.”
As transport minister, Mr Yildirim oversaw several large-scale infrastructure projects, including high-speed rail lines and road-building initiatives, that were championed by Mr Erdogan as the building blocks of a new Turkey.
But his tenures were also marked by controversy, especially regarding the bidding process for a €22.6bn tender for a third airport in Istanbul. In December 2013, Mr Yildirim was dropped from the cabinet after prosecutors taped the winning bidders complaining that he had asked them to buy a government-friendly newspaper for $450m.
Mr Yildirim was never charged and he enjoys parliamentary immunity. The government denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the prosecutors as coup-mongers.
Mr Yildirim is expected to lead a cabinet reshuffle that would possibly affect Mehmet Simsek, whose crucial post as deputy prime minister includes overseeing the economy.
The AKP is also seeking to increase its representation in parliament by stripping opposition lawmakers of immunity, so that they can be prosecuted over various allegations.
Idale News Online, Ankara, Turkey
