President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan replaced the justice and interior ministers in a decree published shortly after midnight today.
According to the decree, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç and Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who both served since the formation of the cabinet following the May 2023 presidential election, requested to be "excused from their duties."
Erdoğan appointed Akın Gürlek as the new justice minister and Mustafa Çiftçi as the new interior minister. Gürlek was İstanbul's chief public prosecutor, while Çiftçi was the governor of Erzurum.
Opposition's view
Gürlek has long been a figure of intense criticism from the opposition. He presided over high-profile political cases, including the Gezi Park trial, during the 2010s. He served as deputy justice minister from Jun 2022 to Oct 2024 before his appointment as the İstanbul chief public prosecutor.
Who is Akın Gürlek, the top judicial official dubbed as ‘mobile guillotine’ by Turkey’s opposition?
Speaking on the appointments today, Özgür Özel, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said, "The day has come when someone who previously held a political post, then was assigned as the chief prosecutor in İstanbul to conduct an operation against the party, could be appointed as the justice minister."
Özel claimed Gürlek carried out judicial processes known to be "political operations" against elected officials, referring to the ongoing sweeping corruption cases against CHP-held municipalities.
"Then they will turn around, sit in a political position again, look the whole world in the eye, and say, 'Turkey is a state of law!'" Özel added, asserting that his party is facing "the greatest attack" in its political history. (VK)
