ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Cevdet Yilmaz, Turkey’s new vice president is a Kurd from a village called Saban in Bingol province, southeastern Turkey (Bakur). Rudaw has spoken to his relatives who hope the vice president will play a key role in resolving the country’s issues. “Congratulations to all of us for Cevdet Yilmaz’s [designation as deputy president]. He was a successful person who graduated top first from primary school to university. He did his internship in the US and graduated top first from Bilkent University,” Kemal Burulday, Yilmaz’s relative, told Rudaw’s Ali Haydar Gozlu. Burulday added that he is optimistic that there are Kurds in positions of power and they hope they will work towards improving the economic and social situation. His relatives and people from his village say he had previously served the village and is able to serve the country. “Cevdet Yilmaz is from our village. He attends all wakes and we see one another. We are very glad and I hope Allah makes him successful,” Ramazan Bulmus, a villager, said. Yilmaz was born in 1967 and obtained a PhD degree from Bilken University’s department of political science. He served as a lawmaker for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) five times then in 2016, he became the deputy prime minister of Turkey. Yilmaz speaks Kurmanci and Zazaki dialects of Kurdish as well as Turkish and English. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday announced the members of his new cabinet in a ceremony in Ankara after his inauguration for his third term. Speaking in Cankaya Palace in Ankara, Erdogan named 19 ministers and Yilmaz as the vice president who, according to him, will shape the next century in Turkey’s history.
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