Turkey Appoints Gonul New Defense Minister

[Zarvan]

Cherie Cullen/US Defense Department

Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul.

ANKARA — The interim government of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday appointed Vecdi Gonul new Turkish defense minister.

The previous minister, Ismet Yilmaz, had to resign from office to run for election as parliament speaker. Yilmaz was elected parliament speaker on Wednesday.

Gonul served as defense minister in three consecutive governments formed by Turkey's Justice and Development Party beginning in 2002 when the party was first elected to power.

Davutoglu told reporters that he proposed Gonul as new defense minister for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's approval. Sources said Erdogan would approve the appointment immediately.

"At a critical time [dealing with the terrorist threat in neighboring Syria], we prefer somebody whose knowledge and experience we trust and who worked with the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] in the past," Davutoglu said. "This office cannot be run by a temporary assignment or by an acting minister," he said.

Ankara has been alarmed by Syrian Kurd advances against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Turkey also fights to topple Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad and various other radical Islamist groups at its border with Syria.

There are unconfirmed reports of a cross-border operation into Syria but military sources say putting boots on Syrian terrain is an unlikely scenario.

Email: bbekdil@defensenews.com
Turkey Appoints Gonul New Defense Minister

 

[Zarvan]

@Horus wrong section put it in Turkish one @Irfan Baloch @waz

 

[The_Sidewinder]

@Zarvan
Why do you seem to make the same mistake of posting wrong threads in wrong section periodicaly. Seems like something is in mess with your defence.pk app.