Former Turkish economy czar Babacan to form new party before 2020

Duvar English

Former Turkish deputy prime minister Ali Babacan announced his intentions to form a new party in an interview published on Sept. 10 in Turkish daily Karar. The announcement confirmed months of rumors that spread after his recent resignation from AKP, of which he was a founding member.

Babacan resigned from AKP last July, citing deep differences ofheart and mind. He was an active member of the party until 2015 whenhe publicly warned the government, saying "We spend everythingon land and concrete without producing anything". This was theturning point and a sign of his differences of mind with the party,as soon after this statement he quietly resigned from his post asminister and never spoke again, until now.

In the interview Babacan told Karar that AKP had strayed from itsfounding principles, is no longer working for the good of thecountry, economy is in spiral, injustice is still prevalent and thathe is still trying to form the best possible team before officiallyforming the party which should be before the end of the year. He alsoconfirmed the support of former president Abdullah Gül, adding Gülwill not formally be a part of the new movement. He said other nameswill be announced soon but not at the moment.

Babacan asserted that Turkey's economy needs to emerge from aspiral and lower its risk premium by making use of internationalliquidity. Judiciary erosion and foreign policy mistakes are partlyto blame for economic recession, he said. He also talked about a widerange of topics such as, in his words, the "Kurdish problem",issues Alawites are facing which have always been a weak spot forconservative politics, he criticized the Istanbul re-elections,journalists losing their jobs because they have opposing views and hespoke of arrests of journalists, NGO members and politicians. Andmost importantly he talked about a party who is at equal distance toevery citizen. All of these combined gives us a pretty clear ideaabout the stance of the party Babacan will be leading in the nearfuture.

"Values like human rights, freedoms, populist democracy andthe rule of law are ones that we always defend and believe in. Theseprinciples are not a periodic political preference for us. These areour moral and social life ideals. With AKP we wanted to actualizethese principles and had great success for a while. Turkey became avery prestigious country globally. Its influence on internationalrelations increased. Overall quality of life in Turkey improved.After all these achievements, the condition in which Turkey iscurrently in truly saddens us. When we look at why it is in thiscondition, the main reason is that it has strayed from the practiceof these values and principles." he said.

Babacan's resignation from AKP in July came a few weeks after theparty's Istanbul mayoral election loss on June 23rd, which was theheaviest defeat in Erdoğan's career. It had since been rumored thatBabacan intended to launch a new political party along with Gül. Asa response to rumors Erdoğan said: "those who leave us now willnot be allowed to return".

When asked if he is a younger face representing more experiencedpoliticans such as Abdullah Gül, Babacan responded: "I met Mr.Gül in the 90's. He was the one who invited me to politics in 2001.He gave strong support to everything we did for the country. He is anhonest politician and a valuable statesman. He contributed to bigachievements during his term.Mr. Gül currently does not want outstyle of work and relationship to be misunderstood. I should say thisfirst, we share the same concerns. He fully supports our efforts. Wemeet once or twice a month. We benefit from his knowledge andexperience. He had previously announced he would now return to activepolitics after his role as a neutral president as he does not thinkit's right."

About his fallout with AKP, he stated: "It's nothingpersonal. If I had cared about personal ailments, I would have leftthe party in 2003, let alone be in minister positions for 13 years.There is no personal resentment or being offended when it comes tocountry issues. We are talking about 82 million citizens here. Onecannot let personal feelings take over. But there might be valuesthat you care deeply about and seeing them crumpled might disturbyou. For example we cared deeply about transparency and ethics inpublic management and policy making. We worked really hard onproblems, we wrote new laws, we looked at global examples and when wecould not succeed, it was heartbreaking. This was not the dream. Wewanted a very different Turkey. We dreamed of a very differentattitude and stance. This was a big disappointment not for me but forthe country."

Who is Ali Babacan?

Born in 1967, Babacan graduated from Ankara College ranking firstamong his class in 1985. He then attended prestigious Middle EastTechnical University in Ankara and graduated as valedictorian of hisclass from the Industrial Engineering department in 1989. Winning theFulbright Scholarship, Babacan went onto receive his MBA from KelloggSchool of Management of Northwestern University in Chicago, withmajors in marketing, organizational behavior and internationalbusiness.

After his studies, Babacan worked two years in a financialconsulting firm in Chicago before returning to Istanbul to manage hisfamily owned textile company between 1994 and 2002.

Babacan entered politics in 2001 as a founding member of Justiceand Development Party (AKP). He was elected to be a member ofparliament in the 2002 elections and appointed Minister of Economy,the youngest member of cabinet in history at age 35. He successfullysteered the economic reforms program of his predecessor Kemal Derviş,a multiyear plan backed by multi-billion dollar IMF loans, and duringhis terms as Minister of Economy Turkish economy saw a period ofalmost miraculous recovery following two severe crises. The countrypaid off the IMF debt in full by 2013.

He was the Minister of Economy during the 58th and 59thgovernments, Minister of Foreign Affairs and EU Chief Negotiator forthe 60th. He then served as Deputy Prime Minister in the 61st and62nd government cabinets. After he criticized the government policiesand some AK Party figures implicitly criticized Babacan, implyingthat he is linked with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, hewasn't appointed to any ministerial position in the last cabinet. Heis married and a father of 3 children.