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Turkey appoints AKP's Gul as interim prime minister

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Monday, November 18, 2002

ANKARA Ñ Turkey has appointed pro-Islamic politician as its caretaker prime minister as the nation's ruling party announced plans to revise a $31 billion International Monetary Fund plan for Ankara.

Abdullah Gul, deputy chief of the Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party, was named prime minister in what is expected to be a temporary appointment. The head of the party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is fighting a ban on entering political office because of a conviction for inciting religious hatred.

Erdogan has been lobbying legislators to revise the constitution to allow him to become prime minister. Changing the constitution requires two-thirds of parliament. Erdogan's party, known as the AKP, has 363 seats, four short of the two-thirds majority.



Gul, named by President Ahmed Sezer, is regarded as pro-Western and is expected to remain in office for the next several months. Although Gul was appointed prime minister, Erdogan unveiled the agenda of the AKP-led government. Erdogan told a news conference on Saturday that his party would focus on improving the economy and eliminating official corruption. He also called for the relaxation of secular laws that ban Islamic headdress in government offices and universities.

"We've said, 'From now on, nothing will be the same in Turkey,'" Erdogan said. "Now we're at the beginning of those days."

Erdogan said he would seek to revise the IMF recovery plan for Turkey, which has provided more than $10 billion to revive the nation's economy. He said the IMF plan has harmed Turkey's agriculture and social welfare sector.

Gul said he would name the members of his Cabinet on Monday and submit them to Sezer for his approval. The prime minister-designate said he would reduce the number of ministers from the current 35 to 24.

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