Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has replaced governors in the majority of the country’s provinces, including the resort province of Antalya, according to a decree published in Turkish official journal Resmi Gazete on Thursday.
The decision, the reasons for which are not specified, has affected 57 out of 81 provinces. The Istanbul Province head was replaced already in June, since then-Governor Ali Yerlikaya was appointed the minister of internal affairs after the elections in the country.
This time, governors have been simply reappointed from one province to another in many cases. For example, Hulusi Sahin, the former head of Malatya in southeastern Turkey, has become the new governor of Antalya, while the former governor of the resort province, Ersin Yazici, has been sent to Malatya.
The province of Izmir in the western part of the country will now be headed by Suleyman Elban, the former governor of Adana Province located in the southeast. Yavuz Selim Kosger, who previously served as the head of the province of Aydin, has become the governor of Adana. At the same time, Rize Province on the Black Sea will now be headed by Deputy Sports Minister Ihsan Baydas.
Last week, Erdogan replaced police chiefs in 57 out of 81 provinces by another decree.
