Former ally of Turkish President Erdogan applies to launch political party

A key member of the AKP, Ali Babacan to launch rival political party

ISTANBUL: Former Turkish deputy prime minister Ali Babacan said he was applying on Monday to launch his long-awaited political party, eight months after he resigned from President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party.

Babacan announced last July that he was resigning from the AKP over "deep differences" about its direction and his move to establish a new party was seen as potentially eroding support for Erdogan's party.

"We will confirm the party's name at a launch programme on
Wednesday," Babacan said, adding that his supporters would
submit to the Interior Ministry on Monday an official request to
establish the party.

A founding member of the AKP, which has ruled Turkey since 2002, Babacan served as the economic and then foreign minister before becoming deputy prime minister, a role he held from 2009 to 2015.

Economic difficulties in the wake of a 2018 currency crisis ate into Erdogan's support base. Further erosion - even just a few percentage points - would damage the AKP, which already has to rely on an alliance with nationalists for its parliamentary majority.

In December, another one-time close ally of Erdogan, former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, established the Future Party to rival the AKP.