Erdogan promises non-party ministers in new, ‘efficient’ govt

Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised on Friday to make government more efficient when Turkey’s new executive presidency is inaugurated next week. The president also said that his new cabinet would include ministers from outside his AK Party. The shift to a presidential system, fulfilling Erdogan’s vision some 15 years after he first came to power, will culminate on Monday when he takes his oath for a five-year term after victory in elections on June 24. Under the changes, the post of prime minister will be scrapped. The president will select his own cabinet, form and regulate ministries, and can remove civil servants, all without parliamentary approval. “We are putting together a cabinet with ministers who are not from the party,” Erdogan said. He added that this would give them the “opportunity to view events in a more objective way,” Reuters reported.