The new Turkish government under Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the stalwart loyalist to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was announced May 24. As expected, the government consists entirely of Erdogan faithful. What is surprising is that some ministers who were predicted to lose their portfolios actually stayed on.

Among those who kept their post is Mehmet Simsek, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs who served as finance minister in Erdogan’s governments. Another is Deputy Prime Minister Lutfi Elvan, who was expected to be penalized because of being close to former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Although he is no longer the deputy prime minister, he is a member of the government as Minister of Development.

Numan Kurtulmus and Suleyman Soylu, who lost their seats in the Justice and Development Party (AKP) executive board at the party congress on May 22, remained in the government.

Two people who lost their seats should be noted: Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, the personally endorsed biographer of Erdogan, and EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir.