Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Thursday made four important changes in his Cabinet and replaced the ministers of culture, health national education and interior with new names.
Omer Celik, known to be close to the prime minister, replaced Ertugrul Gunay of leftist background as the minister of culture. Minister of Health Recep Akdag handed over to Mehmet Muezzinoglu and Nabi Avci, a respected conservative intellectual took over as the minister of national education. Finally, Erdogan replaced the controversial Minister of Interior Idris Naim Sahin with a parliament member from Mardin and the former governor of Istanbul, Muammer Guler.