58th cabinet of Turkey

The cabinet of Abdullah Gül took office on 19 November 2002. He succeeded to the fifth government of Bülent Ecevit.

Abdullah Gül cabinet Gül Hükümeti
58th Cabinet of Turkey
19 November 2002 – 12 March 2003
Date formed	19 November 2002
Date dissolved	12 March 2003
People and organisations
Head of state	Ahmet Necdet Sezer
Head of government	Abdullah Gül
No. of ministers	25
Member party	Justice and Development Party
Status in legislature	176-seat single-party majority 363 / 550
Opposition party	Republican People's Party
Opposition leader	Deniz Baykal
History
Election(s)	3 November 2002
Legislature term(s)	22nd
Predecessor	Ecevit V
Successor	Erdoğan I

After the Justice and Development Party (AKP) became the biggest party in the general elections of 2002, its leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could not be Prime Minister because of a previous conviction and bar from politics. So the second person in the party, Abdullah Gül, formed the 58th government of Turkey. After the legal and political problems for Erdoğan had been eliminated, Abdullah Gül stepped aside and became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the next government while Erdoğan became Prime Minister.