Turkey's New Government Passes Parliamentary Confidence Vote

Turkey's new Prime Minister Binali Yildirim

Turkey's new government, led by a loyal ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, easily passed a parliamentary confidence vote on May 29.

Parliamentary speaker Ismail Kahraman announced after the vote that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was backed by 315 parliamentarians while 138 voted against his administration.

Yildirim, who replaced Ahmet Davutoglu as prime minister last week, told parliament after the vote that his cabinet is "the government of 79 million Turks."

Yildirim also promised that he would "take democracy even further" than his predecessor.

Yildirim’s government takes office amid opposition accusations that Erdogan is attempting to rule like a dictator by enhancing his own power.

The 60-year-old Yildirim has made no secret of his enthusiasm for constitutional changes in Turkey that would restrict the powers of the prime minister and bolster the presidency.

Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax