​Ali Babacan quits AKP, launches new Movement

TURKEY - In Brief 09 Jul 2019 by Atilla Yesilada

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and better known as economy czar under Erdogan, Ali Babacan formally submitted his resignation to AKP yesterday, at the same time announcing the formation of a new Movement. I consider his departure from AKP a significant milestone in the evolution of the conservative movement, rating his chances of political success as “higher than generally believed”.The new party may be formally announced by late autumn and will appeal to the pragmatic, business-oriented conservative voter. In the most important split in AKP’s 20 year history, a leading figure has left his nest to form a new enterprise to challenge Erdogan. Over the past 17 years, founding members of AKP had peeled off one by one, or cast out by Erdogan. One of them, Mr. Abdullatif Sener, a member of the original Founding Four had even launched a new party with no success, but is currently serving as CHP’s parliamentary rep from the conservative province of Konya, suggesting that he does retain political capital. I expect former premier Prof Ahmet Davutoglu to announce his resignation soon, but suspect he had not yet exhausted hopes of being rehabilitated by Erdogan. Why is Babacan’s departure more important than others?First of all, he departs with an agenda for a new conservative movement, prioritizing human rights, impartiality of the judiciary and to solve the problems created by Turkey’s bizarre Presidential System. In the past, departures have been related to personal reasons, with none of the Erdogan detractors aiming to set out an alternative conservative vision to that promoted by Erdogan and thesegments of the press and intelligentsia he controls. Secondly, while Babacan ...

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