Introduction
Ali Babacan ([aˈli babaˈdʒan]; born 4 April 1967) is a Turkish politician. He is member of the parliament and former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the Economy. He first served as the Minister of State in charge of economic affairs in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). He retained this position throughout the 58th and 59th Governments of the Republic of Turkey. On 29 August 2007 he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the 60th Government of the Republic of Turkey. During 2009–2015 he served as the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs of Turkey. He is married with three children. In 2019, Babacan left the AKP, citing “deep differences” over the party’s direction as a reason.
Babacan has hit out at the country's "misguided and populist" economic management launching a new party aimed at challenging the ruling Party. Babacan, at the hunch of his party - whose name translated to English means "the remedy" - said the public opinion perception of the government has now "seriously changed".
Education
Babacan graduated from Ankara College ranking first among the class of 1985. He attended the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and in 1989 was awarded a BSc in Industrial Engineering with the highest marks. He went to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship to do postgraduate studies and in 1992 received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with majors in marketing, organizational behavior and international business.
Career in finance
Babacan worked then for two years as an associate at QRM, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, a company doing financial consulting to the top executives of major banks in the United States. He returned to Turkey in 1994 and, served as chief advisor to the mayor of Ankara the same year. He was the chairman of his family owned textile company between 1994 and 2002.
Political life
He entered politics in 2001 as a co-founder and a Board member of the Justice and Development Partyand was elected to parliament as deputy for Ankara on 3 November 2002. He was appointed Minister of Economy on 18 November 2002 and became the youngest member of the cabinet, then at the age of 35.
Babacan had the duty to steer a painful economic reform program, which was backed by multibillion-dollar IMF loans; with its help Turkish economy achieved a remarkable recovery after two severe crises. He stayed always away from the rough-and-tumble of the Turkish political arena and focused solely on the economic reform, acting rather as a technocrat without indulging into populism.
On 24 May 2005 Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his appointment as chief negotiator in Turkey's accession talks with the European Union, which started on 3 October 2005.
As government minister Babacan has attended several international meetings including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Bilderberg Group.
After some AK Party figures, have been implicitly criticizing Babacan and implying that he is linked with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen he wasn't appointed to any ministerial position in the last Cabinet.
In 2019, Babacan left the ruling AKP, citing “deep differences” over the party’s direction as a reason. He is also widely expected to establish his own party.
Babacan confirmed his intent to form this party in a late 2019 interview with journalist Şirin Payzın of T24, and expects his party to be a "mainstream party" with particular focuses on minority rights, a return to Turkey's parliamentary system, fair processes in courts and legislation, and restoring freedom of speech and expression. The party is expected to emerge at some time in 2020. Babacan is quoted as saying that "the nation will give our party its name".On 9 March 2020, he founded Democracy and Progress Party.