Additional Reporting by Sa’ad Abdul Majid, IOL Turkey Correspondent

ANKARA, March 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The head of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, March 11, that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had appointed him prime minister and asked him to form a new government.

"The president has given me the task of forming the new government," Erdogan told reporters after a brief meeting with Sezer, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I will submit the cabinet list to the president in the shortest possible time," he added.

Speaking at a press conference, Gul said his decision was prompted by democracy in side the AKP and in respect of the will of the Turkish people who entrusted Erdogan to take the helm of power in the country.

He confirmed the success of his short-lived government in implementing an urgent economic program.

Emerging from the Cabinet meeting on Monday, March 10, Gul said his government would resign after Erdogan secured a landslide victory in Siirt by-elections on Sunday, March 9.

On his possible participation in the new government, Gul said the issue is up to Erdogan in his capacity as party leader and coming prime minister.

In a televised interview Sunday, triumphant Erdogan said he ushered in his political life with his friend Gul and would like that to continue.

Erdogan pledged to pumping new blood into his government.

Gul formed his line-up on November 18 after the AKP had a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections allowing the party to form a new government alone.

According to media speculations, Gul would likely named a deputy prime minister and foreign minister.