Ali Babacan

Former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has announced he will launch his party at a meeting on March 11 in the Turkish capital Ankara, months after he resigned from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

An application for the establishment of the party was submitted to the Interior Ministry on March 9.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Mithat Sancar was elected as the new co-chair of the party at a congress on Feb. 23.

Sancar, who has been serving as an MP for the southeastern province of Mardin since 2015, replaced Sezai Temelli at the HDP's fourth annual general congress.

The establishment of new political parties is beneficial for Turkey and the voters, the leader of oppositional İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has said.

"It will increase competition during elections. We are rivals with both two parties and also [main opposition Republican People's Party] the CHP and the AKP," Akşener told a group of journalists on Jan. 22.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Dec. 17 slammed the recently announced political party establishment, dubbing the move as a "conspiration."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed former deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan over his resignation from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), accusing him of "abandoning the common cause."

Turkey's former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan on July 8 announced that he was resigning from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Two senior figures in Turkish President's Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party are planning to launch a rival political group this year, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could further erode support for the country's long-time leader on the heels of a stinging electoral defeat in Istanbul.

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) celebrates its 16th anniversary in Ankara today, Aug. 14.

I was there when the party was founded by former Istanbul mayor Tayyip Erdoğan as an offspring of the Islamic-conservative Milli Görüş movement led by Necmettin Erbakan.

Turkey's impressive democratization process began in late 1999 after the European Union approved Ankara's full membership candidacy to the bloc at the historic Helsinki Summit. As a diplomatic correspondent who has been covering the troubled relationship between Turkey and the EU for more than two decades, I had the chance to observe all phases and all dimensions of this bitter process. 

Credit ratings agency Moody's has downgraded Turkey's sovereign credit rating to non-investment grade.

What does that mean? This is an issue for economists and I am not an economist.

So why am I writing about this subject? I do so because I find the statement after the decision by Mehmet Şimşek, the deputy prime minister responsible for the economy, very important.