06 July 2018•Update: 07 July 2018
By Meryem Goktas and Sibel Ugurlu
ANKARA
Turkey’s president said on Friday that the successful People’s Alliance from last month’s elections -- a coalition of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) -- will continue in the new parliament.
Speaking to AK Party provincial heads at party headquarters in Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "We will continue the People’s Alliance in the parliament."
Erdogan thanked the Turkish people for the high turnout in the June 24 elections -- over 86 percent -- saying that this "frustrated" those who wanted to "drive Turkey into a corner."
New Cabinet to be announced Monday
Erdogan also said initial steps for the transition to Turkey's new presidential system have been completed, including changes related to the Cabinet ministers, and the re-defined management of some institutions and general directors.
"On Monday, the first presidential decree will be issued soon after the swearing-in ceremony, and the reorganized presidential Cabinet will be announced that same evening," he said.
Erdogan added that for the first time the Cabinet will include figures unaffiliated to any party.
"We will speed up the work of the state and make it [more] effective by merging institutions that do similar work and eliminating institutions that have become dysfunctional," he added.
Addressing the upcoming local elections set for March 2019, Erdogan highlighted the importance of analyzing last month’s election outcome.
"There are local elections ahead of us, we have to look at June 24 and take the necessary steps," he said.
On Monday July 9, Erdogan -- in his second term as president -- will be sworn in for the first time under the new executive presidential system.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 4.00 p.m. local time (1300GMT) at parliament in the capital Ankara, sources said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Later, a ceremony will be held at the presidential complex to mark the country’s transition to the presidential system of government.
The June 24 vote marked Turkey's transition to an executive presidential system of government, doing away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.
