Repeated delays in the establishment of Babacan's party raise speculations

The timeline for the establishment former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan's new political party remains uncertain, though one source pointed to the end of February. Repeated delays in the party's establishment that was scheduled for end of 2019 has left political circles questioning the formation and claims of an ideological rift among the founding members.

Nergis Demirkaya/ DUVAR

The timeline for the establishment former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan's new political party remains uncertain, though one source pointed to the end of February.

Babacan had initially said that the new party would be fleshed out by the end of 2019, then postponed the date to end of January 2020 with no new party in sight as of Jan. 29.

While a third timeline change has left Ankara circles doubting the new political structure and claiming there might be ideological rifts among the founding members, sources close to Babacan say that the party will be established "soon."

Work geared toward application

Sources close to the former minister say that the 24 work groups they had for the preparation of the party agenda have determined basic principles and ideals of the party and have finished the party agenda and code.

Work is now geared toward the official application to found the party and the following promotion schedule.

"What good came out of Davutoğlu's rush?"

A politician involved with the new political party said that a large group of experts are working on forming a movement that's able to address the real problems of the people and referred to former Prime Minister and Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Davutoğlu and Babacan had set off to found new parties around the same time but Davutoğlu has moved along with the process much faster, forming Future Party before the end of 2019.

"Creating a brand is the easy part of the job. What good came out of Davutoğlu's rush?" said the politician.

Two other possibilities

Some sources point to the unlikelihood of an early election in the current political and economic landscape as a reason for the seeming delay in Babacan's timeline.

Meanwhile, some sources note that the former minister is detail-oriented and a perfectionist, two qualities that may slow down processes.