Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced Turkey’s interior and justice ministers in a late-night cabinet reshuffle just hours before a scheduled meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday in Ankara.
Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Erdogan appointed Mustafa Ciftci as the new interior minister, replacing Ali Yerlikaya. He also named Akin Gurlek as justice minister, taking over from Yilmaz Tunc.
Gurlek currently serves as Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor and played a leading role in prosecutions against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. His appointment is expected to spark significant debate within Turkey, according to the information available.
The changes came only hours before Erdogan was set to welcome Mitsotakis and the Greek delegation to the Turkish capital, placing the reshuffle in the immediate run-up to the high-level bilateral meeting.
No further details were provided about the reasons behind the ministerial changes.
