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40 I Southeast Europe bne October 2019
Babacan's plans were all over the Turkish press on September 10.
Former Erdogan ally to challenge Turkish president’s ruling AKP with new party
bne IntelliNews
Former Turkish deputy prime minister and economic czar
Ali Babacan has confirmed to
a Turkish daily that he will form a new political party by the end of the year to challenge the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of his former political boss, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan finds himself in something of
a hole and potential rivals have been circling for months. While Turkey’s economy was booming many Turks looked the other way as the strongman grabbed more and more power and
ran an increasingly authoritarian administration. But Erdogan stands accused of badly botching the economic stewardship of the debt-fuelled country, leading to last year’s currency crisis and
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the bitter recession that Turkey has this year struggled to overcome. There are plenty of Turks who would rather try something new than stick with Turkey’s leader of nearly 17 years.
Babacan, 52, outlined his intentions in an interview published on September 10 by Karar newspaper.
“Values like human rights, freedoms, populist democracy and the rule of law are ones that we always defend and believe in. These principles are not a periodic political preference for us,” he
told the publication, adding that the AKP was committed to these values in the past.
“After all these achievements, the condition in which Turkey is currently in truly saddens us. When we look at why it is in this condition, the main reason is that it has strayed from the practice of these values and principles,” he added.
“Deep differences”
A founding member of the AKP, Babacan resigned from the party in July, citing “deep differences”. Babacan served as economy and foreign minister during
“The condition in which Turkey is currently in truly saddens us”