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| Davutoglu announced his resignation from the Islamist-rooted AKP in September |
Former Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, once a close ally to President Tayyip Erdogan, applied on Thursday to establish a breakaway political party which could erode support for Erdogan and his ruling AK Party.
Davutoglu, 60, served as prime minister from 2014 to 2016, before falling out with Erdogan. Earlier this year, he slammed the president and the AK Partyโs (AKP) economic management, and accused them of curbing basic liberties and free speech.
A source close to Davutoglu said the former premier applied to the Interior Ministry on Thursday to form his new party and that he will formally announce it at a news conference in Ankara on Friday. It will be called Future Party, the source said.
โHe will announce his partyโs principles and give information about the founding members,โ the source said. โThe new party will breathe new life into politicsโ.
Davutoglu announced his resignation from the Islamist-rooted AKP in September, saying it was no longer able to solve Turkeyโs problems and no longer allowed internal debate. His resignation came two months after former deputy prime minister Ali Babacan resigned from the AKP, citing โdeep differencesโ.
Earlier this year Turkeyโs main opposition party handed stinging defeats to Erdoganโs AK Party in mayoral elections, taking control of the capital Ankara and Istanbul, the countryโs commercial hub, after more than two decades.
Babacan, will also announce his own rival political party within weeks, a source close to Babacan said.
โEfforts to form the party are in the last stages. The final changes are being made to the texts, the partyโs founders are nearly complete,โ the source said.
In his first televised interview since resigning from the AKP, Babacan said last month that Turkey was in a โdark tunnelโ and warned of the dangers of โone-man ruleโ.
REUTERS
