Turkish PM to present reform cabinet list August 29

ANKARA, Aug 28 (Reuters) Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said today he expected to present his new reform-oriented cabinet for approval tomorrow to his close ally Abdullah Gul, the resident-elect.

The cabinet is expected to be made up of figures who will push ahead with economic and political reform, especially stalled reforms linked to joining the European Union.

''If I can get an appointment from our president, we are considering presenting the new cabinet tomorrow,'' Erdogan told reporters after respected Foreign Minister Gul was elected president in a vote in parliament.

Erdogan, whose Islamist-rooted AK Party was reelected last month, has pledged to speed up EU reforms and make sweeping changes to the constitution, written by a military regime in the 1980s.

Turkey won EU accession talks status in October 2005.

Erdogan has also said the new government aims to double the country's 400 billion dollars GDP in the next five years. The fast-growing economy helped the AK Party win reelection.

Former Merrill Lynch economist Mehmet Simsek is expected to join Erdogan's cabinet as state minister in charge of treasury, government sources who declined to be named told Reuters.

Ali Babacan, Turkey's chief EU negotiator and treasury minister, is expected to take over as foreign minister.

The treasury post is crucial. The minister manages Turkey's relations with the International Monetary Fund and Simsek's experience with capital markets should help. Turkey has a loan programme with the IMF dating from a financial crisis in 2001.

Incumbent Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, a close ally of Erdogan, is expected to be promoted to deputy prime minister in charge of coordination of the economy.

Sources also told Reuters that Mustafa Acikalin, a former inspector in the finance ministry and now a AK Party lawmaker, was expected to be the next finance minister.

Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Energy Minister Hilmi Guler are expected to keep their posts, the sources said.

Ministry officials declined to comment.

REUTERS LPB BST2033