The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) former Group Deputy Chairperson Mehmet Muş has been appointed as the minister of trade, the Official Gazette revealed early Wednesday after Ruhsar Pekcan was removed from the position by presidential decree. In addition, the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services has been restructured and split into two entities as former Minister Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk left office.
Derya Yanık was appointed as the minister of Family and Social Services while Vedat Bilgin was appointed as the minister of Labor and Social Security.
New Trade Minister Muş is an economist, who obtained his master's degree from Washington State University's School of Economic Sciences. Muş later went on to get his doctorate in economic history from Istanbul's Marmara University.
Yanık is a lawyer and board member of the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM). She was also chosen as one of the members of the AK Party's Central Decision-Making and Administrative Committee (MKYK).
Bilgin is one of the chief advisors to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and was the chief of the Presidential Social Policies Committee.
AK Party Deputy Chair Mahir Ünal earlier confirmed recent rumors about the changes in the Cabinet.
The presidential decree gave no reason for the change in the trade ministry but came after opposition politicians accused Pekcan’s ministry of buying supplies from her family-owned company and called on her to resign.
The Trade Ministry confirmed that the purchase of sanitizers had been made but said in a statement on Tuesday the choice was based on price alone and not due to “the name of the company making the sale.”
Countering the claims of a TL 9 million ($1.1 million) sale, the ministry said the transaction only worth some TL 500,000 and had been carried out in line with relevant regulations.
