Former Erdogan Alli Babacan “It’s the time for democracy and the time for progress has come for Turkey
But he resigned from the ruling party in 2019, citing “deep differences” with it over the state of democracy, rule of law and foreign policy.
“Our democracy is weak, our society cannot breathe. Our economy, education and health systems are alarming,” Babacan said on Wednesday in Ankara at the official launch of the DEVA party.
“This country’s people have been made very sad in the last years … We will not allow our nation to have more sadness. This is the time to take responsibility,” he added.
“The time for democracy and the time for progress has come for Turkey. We are the cure, this is the time for the cure. We are happy to announce our Democracy and Progress Party, DEVA, which will be the cure for our country,” he continued.
“Babacan has enormous capacity,” said Onur Nezih Kuru, a political scientist at Koc University in Istanbul.
“His party can be an address for large numbers of the electorate and he can easily reach 10 per cent of the total votes.”
Kuru, however, warned that Babacan’s success would depend on how he positions himself vis-à-vis Erdogan and the political alliances he might form in the future.
Well regarded at home and abroad
Ali Babacan at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington
Babacan comes from a conservative, industrialist Anatolian family, but one that is also firmly part of the Turkish establishment.
Despite his conservative background, he attended the secular TED College in the capital, Ankara, and graduated in Industrial Engineering in 1989 from the city’s Middle East Technical University.
He won a Fulbright scholarship from the United States, where he pursued an MBA at Northwestern University in Chicago between 1990 and 1992.
Returning to Turkey, Babacan worked as a financial adviser for Turkish companies before becoming general director of his family firm, which has interests in energy, tourism, real estate and logistics, in 1994. Seven years later, he helped found the AKP.
“He is a statesman respected by international and Turkish circles,” Kuru said.
“He is a relatively young, modern and more importantly a Western face. He and his colleagues understand the need of the people and desire to put Turkey back in its traditional Western alliances.”
Having worked as an adviser to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, he is widely associated with the “golden years” of Erdogan’s rule, when the economy was thriving and Turkish democracy appeared to be on a sound footing.
In recent years, however, Erdogan has been accused of authoritarianism, while the economy has been badly battered by waning investor confidence, costly foreign interventions and a bitter fallout with traditional Western allies.
Babacan ‘has to take risks’
Ali Babacan
Battling an economic crisis at home and heavy military losses in Syria, Erdogan’s approval ratings fell to an historic low of 41 per cent in February, according to a poll published in early March by the MetroPoll Research Company.
The poll gave Babacan’s party, which has been in the works for months, just 1 per cent support, though some analysts said they expected it to do better.
“According to our research, Babacan’s vote can reach 25 per cent,” said Burak Bilgehan Ozpek, a professor of international relations.
Ozpek said DEVA was targeting a “wider group of people” than the Future Party, created in late 2019 by former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, another former close ally of Erdogan.
Davutoglu’s party, Ozpek said, was trying to lure away AKP voters. The future of Turkish politics, he argued, would be crafted by Babacan, the new Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and jailed Kurdish political leader Selahattin Demirtas.
“I believe that Babacan’s party can be successful,” he said. “They have to have a clear stance and they have to create strong rhetoric. This means they have to take risks.”
Kuru said Babacan could count on the support of at least some of the 10 to 12 per cent of undecided voters, thanks to his record with the AKP during its heyday. Like Ozpek, Kuru noted that Babacan had surrounded himself in his new party with technocrats, rather than big-name intellectuals or politicians.
Former President Abdullah Gul, for example, was known to support Babacan’s decision to form his own party, but neither Gul nor those considered close to him were among the founders. On Monday, Babacan denied they had fallen out.
“Babacan and his team want more democracy but they seem very technocratic and mechanical on many issues,” Kuru told BIRN.
“However, rhetoric, addressing the crowds, populist manoeuvres and leading social movements are the main elements of today’s politics in which President Erdogan mastered himself and Babacan still did not prove himself,” he added.
“Babacan’s performance against President Erdogan and his relations with opposition parties, the main opposition Republican People’s Party in particular, will be very important. Future alliances will also decide this new party’s success and the result of elections,” he concluded.
