In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has carried out his first cabinet reshuffle since the 2023 elections, appointing Akın Gürlek—until now the chief public prosecutor in İstanbul—as head of Ministry of Justice, according to decrees published in Resmî Gazete. Erdoğan also named Mustafa Çiftçi, the governor of Erzurum, as the new Ministry of Interior chief, replacing Ali Yerlikaya. The justice portfolio was previously held by Yılmaz Tunç. No official reason was provided for the changes.
The appointments immediately triggered confrontation in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, where lawmakers gathered for the ministers’ oath-taking. Deputies from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) moved to block Gürlek from approaching the rostrum, calling his nomination an assault on the rule of law, while legislators from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) formed a protective ring around him. The standoff escalated into pushing and punches inside the chamber. During the scuffle, CHP lawmaker Mahmut Tanal was reported injured, and footage circulated showing clashes involving AKP deputy Osman Gökçek. Despite the chaos, Gürlek ultimately read the oath as the session continued under deputy speaker Bekir Bozdağ.
CHP lawmakers also raised a procedural objection, arguing that judges and prosecutors cannot enter politics without formally resigning their judicial posts, and questioned whether Gürlek’s departure from the prosecutor’s office had been properly documented before the oath. CHP deputy group chair Murat Emir demanded a rules debate on the point, but Bozdağ declined, stating the process complied with relevant legislation. After the sitting, CHP officials said they would treat the oath as invalid and framed Gürlek’s elevation as further evidence that the judiciary is being used against Erdoğan’s rivals.
Gürlek’s promotion is especially polarizing because of his role in an intensified legal campaign against opposition-run municipalities, particularly in İstanbul. Under his tenure as chief prosecutor, authorities arrested hundreds of people in a corruption case linked to the city administration, including Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, whom the CHP has presented as its 2028 presidential candidate and who has been jailed since March 2025, according to the same reporting. Prosecutors last year produced a sweeping indictment that sought a cumulative prison sentence of more than 2,000 years for İmamoğlu and others—an extraordinary demand that sparked Turkey’s largest street protests in a decade, the reports said. The government rejects claims that prosecutions are politically directed and says the courts operate independently.
Before becoming chief prosecutor, Gürlek served as a deputy justice minister—part of a rapid rise through senior judicial and executive posts that critics say has blurred the line between the courts and politics. Opposition leader Özgür Özel has previously faced investigations over remarks targeting Gürlek, reflecting the degree to which the prosecutor became a political symbol long before his cabinet appointment.
Çiftçi, meanwhile, arrives at the interior ministry as a long-serving bureaucrat with a profile that has drawn attention from secularist and opposition circles. A career civil servant who previously governed Çorum, he is an Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet)-certified hafiz (Quran memorizer) and has publicly emphasized daily Quran study; local religious authorities have also highlighted his success in national-level recitation and memorization competitions. After his appointment, he described the post as a “heavy responsibility” and asked the public for prayers.
Several past episodes continue to follow Çiftçi. Critics have focused on his participation—while governor of Çorum—in a 2021 commemoration for İskilipli Atıf Hoca, a cleric whose memory remains contentious in debates over the early republic’s secular reforms; Çiftçi defended the visit at the time as justified and necessary, while prosecutors declined to pursue complaints. In Erzurum, he also drew controversy after the historic Erzurum Congress Building was temporarily closed following assessments that it was not earthquake-resistant; debate flared after he publicly noted the site’s earlier use as an Armenian school in the Ottoman era and said demolition could be possible, though later reporting said authorities leaned toward reinforcement rather than razing the structure.
The reshuffle ends Yerlikaya’s tenure at the interior ministry, where he cultivated a public image built on frequent announcements of anti-crime and anti-narcotics operations and regular messaging about detentions in probes targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement. A late flashpoint came after a December 2025 raid on a suspected Islamic State cell in Yalova that escalated into a prolonged firefight and left three police officers dead, prompting opposition demands for accountability over planning and tactics.
