First Davutoğlu Cabinet

First Davutoğlu Cabinet Birinci Davutoğlu Hükümeti
62nd cabinet of Turkey
29 August 2014 – 28 August 2015
Date formed	29 August 2014
Date dissolved	28 August 2015
People and organisations
Head of government	Ahmet Davutoğlu
Head of state	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Number of ministers	26
Total number of ministers	30
Member party	Justice and Development Party
Status in legislature	74-seat single-party majority at time of dissolution 311 / 550
Opposition party	Republican People's Party
Opposition leader	Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
History
Election(s)	12 June 2011 10 August 2014
Legislature term(s)	24th
Predecessor	Erdoğan III
Successor	Interim election cabinet

The First Cabinet of Ahmet Davutoğlu was the 62nd government of the Turkish Republic, which took office on 29 August 2014. It was the fifth majority government to be formed entirely by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and was headed by its leader and the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoğlu. The government assumed office during the 24th parliament of Turkey and succeeded Erdoğan's third cabinet. Davutoğlu is the third AKP politician to take office as Prime Minister, after Abdullah Gül (2002-2003) and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (2003-2014).

The formation of the cabinet was necessitated by the election of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 12th President of Turkey on August 10. Erdoğan, who headed the 61st government of Turkey, assumed office as President on the 28th, severing all relations with the AKP. The AKP had elected Davutoğlu as leader during an extraordinary congress on 27 August.^[1] The 62nd government of Turkey was sworn in by President Erdoğan on the 29th and was due to serve until the general election of June 2015. The failure to form a government after the election, which had resulted in a hung parliament, resulted in the government continuing its duties for much of the 25th Parliament while unsuccessful coalition negotiations were still taking place. The government was succeeded on 28 August 2015, almost exactly a year after being formed, by an interim election government as required by the Constitution of Turkey. The election government will oversee the early election that was called for November 2015.

The cabinet contained one minister who was not a Member of Parliament, namely Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş. Later on 3 July 2015, Vecdi Gönül also became a minister (National Defence) from outside Parliament.^[2] Hakan Fidan, the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), was also seen as a potential Minister of Foreign Affairs from outside parliament.^[3] Despite questions over his future and alleged links with Fethullah Gülen's Cemaat Movement, Ali Babacan remained as Deputy Prime Minister within the cabinet amid economic uncertainty over his position.^[4] Leading AKP politicians Binali Yıldırım, Hayati Yazıcı, Emrullah İşler and Beşir Atalay were notably not included in the cabinet.^[5]

After losing their parliamentary majority in the June 2015 general election, Prime Minister Davutoğlu arrived at the presidential palace to submit his government's resignation on 9 June 2015. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accepted the government's resignation, though the cabinet remained in power until Erdoğan called a general election and the interim election government was formed.

Composition

Davutoğlu was formally invited by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to form a cabinet in the late hours of 28 August 2014.^[6] The cabinet was announced by Davutoğlu at noon the next day.^[7]

Reshuffles

Constitutional pre-election reshuffle

In accordance to the 114th Article of the Turkish Constitution, the ministerial posts for the Departments of Justice, Transport and the Interior must be given to neutral permanent secretaries three months before a general election. The amendment was enacted following the 1960 coup d'état, supposedly because the serving leader of the opposition at the time, İsmet İnönü, had been delayed on a train by the government on his way to an electoral rally.^[8] Apparently for this reason, the resolution for the governing party to vacate the Transport, Justice and Interior Ministries was enacted in 1961 after the Democratic Party government was removed from power. The Justice and Development Party has promised in its manifesto to abolish this Constitutional requirement should it win the June 2015 general election. In accordance to this constitutional requirement, the following ministers were replaced by independent permanent secretaries on 7 March 2015, three months before the general election on 7 June 2015.^[9]

• Efkan Âlâ was replaced as Interior Minister by Sebahattin Öztürk
• Bekir Bozdağ was replaced as Justice Minister by Kenan İpek
• Lütfi Elvan was replaced by Transport Minister by Feridun Bilgin

Minister of Defence

After the government resigned following the June 2015 general election, the Minister of Defence İsmet Yılmaz was put forward as the AKP candidate for Speaker of the Grand National Assembly for the new Parliament and was elected in the final round. As a result, his cabinet position was automatically terminated on 1 July 2015. Prime Minister Davutoğlu stated that it was not practical given Turkey's circumstances in terms of the ongoing events in the Syrian Civil War to appoint an acting Minister, instead stating that they would appoint a new National Defence Minister until a new government was formed. Former National Defence Minister Vecdi Gönül, who had served between 2002 and 2011, was appointed to succeed Yılmaz despite not being a Member of Parliament.

Dissolution

The government was scheduled to come to an end following the June 2015 general election. The AKP lost their parliamentary majority in said election, meaning that forming a new government may take significantly longer than usual due to coalition negotiations. Davutoğlu's cabinet resigned shortly after the election but stayed in power while coalition negotiations took place. With parties failing to come to a consensus, Erdoğan called an early general election for November 2015, thereby dissolving the government and inviting Davutoğlu to form an interim election government on 27 August 2015.

Ministers

Functions		Holder		Start	End
English title	Turkish title
Prime Minister	Başbakan		Ahmet Davutoğlu	28 August 2014	28 August 2015
Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for Foundations and TRT	Başbakan Yardımcısı		Bülent Arınç	1 May 2009	28 August 2015
Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for Religious Affairs and the Turkish World	Başbakan Yardımcısı		Numan Kurtulmuş	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for the Economy, Banking and Treasury	Başbakan Yardımcısı		Ali Babacan	28 August 2007	28 August 2015
Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for Counter-terrorism, Human Rights and Cyprus	Başbakan Yardımcısı		Yalçın Akdoğan	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Dışişleri Bakanı		Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Ministry of the Interior	İçişleri Bakanı		Efkan Ala	25 December 2013	7 March 2015
			Sebahattin Öztürk	7 March 2015	28 August 2015
Ministry of Finance	Maliye Bakanı		Mehmet Şimşek	1 May 2009	28 August 2015
Ministry of Justice	Adalet Bakanı		Bekir Bozdağ	26 December 2013	7 March 2015
			Kenan İpek	7 March 2015	28 August 2015
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources	Enerji ve Tabii Kaynaklar Bakanı		Taner Yıldız	1 May 2009	28 August 2015
Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock	Gıda, Tarım ve Hayvancılık Bakanı		Mehmet Mehdi Eker	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Ministry of Culture and Tourism	Kültür ve Turizm Bakanı		Ömer Çelik	24 January 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of Health	Sağlık Bakanı		Mehmet Müezzinoğlu	24 January 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of National Education	Millî Eğitim Bakanı		Nabi Avcı	24 January 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of National Defence	Millî Savunma Bakanı		İsmet Yılmaz	6 July 2011	1 July 2015
			Vecdi Gönül	3 July 2015	28 August 2015
Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology	Bilim, Sanayi ve Teknoloji Bakanı		Fikri Işık	25 December 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of Labour and Social Security	Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanı		Faruk Çelik	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communication	Ulaştırma, Denizcilik ve Haberleşme Bakanı		Lütfi Elvan	26 December 2013	7 March 2015
			Feridun Bilgin	7 March 2015	28 August 2015
Ministry of Family and Social Policy	Aile ve Sosyal Politikalar Bakanı		Ayşenur İslam	26 December 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of European Union Affairs	Avrupa Birliği Bakanı		Volkan Bozkır	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Ministry of Economy	Ekonomi Bakanı		Nihat Zeybekçi	25 December 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of Youth and Sports	Gençlik ve Spor Bakanı		Akif Çağatay Kılıç	25 December 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of Development	Kalkınma Bakanı		Cevdet Yılmaz	6 July 2011	28 August 2015
Ministry of Customs and Trade	Gümrük ve Ticaret Bakanı		Nurettin Canikli	29 August 2014	28 August 2015
Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning	Çevre ve Şehircilik Bakanı		İdris Güllüce	25 December 2013	28 August 2015
Ministry of Forest and Water Management	Orman ve Su İşleri Bakanı		Veysel Eroğlu	29 August 2007	28 August 2015

References

Cabinets of Turkey
1923–1960	İnönü I II Okyar I İnönü III IV V VI VII Bayar I II Saydam I II Saraçoğlu I II Peker I Saka I II Günaltay I Menderes I II III IV V
1960–1980	Gürsel I II Inönü VIII IX X Ürgüplü I Demirel I II III Erim I II Melen I Talu I Ecevit I Irmak I Demirel IV Ecevit II Demirel V Ecevit III Demirel VI
1980–present	Ulusu I Özal I II Akbulut I Yılmaz I Demirel VII Çiller I II III Yılmaz II Erbakan I Yılmaz III Ecevit IV V Gül I Erdoğan I II III Davutoğlu I II III Yıldırım I
Pre-republic governments in ordinal numbers	1 2 3 4 5
Republican governments in ordinal numbers	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I0 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65