Turkey’s new defense minister named

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has appointed Vecdi Gonul the country’s new defense minister, TRT Haber news channel reported July 3.

Gonul, whose candidacy wasn’t mentioned before, served as the country’s defense minister till 2011. Currently, he is an MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party.

It was earlier reported that two MPs from the Justice and Development Party - Alpaslan Kavaklioglu and Mahir Unal - were nominated as candidates for the post of the defense minister.

Turkey held parliamentary election June 7, which involved 20 political parties. Over 53 million people cast ballots in this election. The coalition government should be formed in Turkey within 45 days after announcing the results of the parliamentary election.

As a result of the parliamentary election, the ruling Justice and Development Party garnered 40.9 percent of the votes, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) – 25 percent, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – 16.3 percent, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – 13.1 percent.

The other political parties gathered a total of 4.7 percent of the votes.

/By Trend/