Babacan’s DEVA Party holds party’s first convention

ANKARA

The Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), under the leadership of Chair Ali Babacan, held its first convention on Dec. 29 in a bid to fulfill the necessary criteria to enter any potential elections that will be held in the second half of 2021.

Babacan, a former high-ranking member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), formed DEVA Party in March 2020 after he had split ways with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The party has concluded its organization in dozens of cities before holding its first convention in Ankara to select 600 delegates and create a 50-member central decision-making body. Babacan is the sole candidate for the leadership at the convention.

DEVA Party will be eligible to run in any general election six months after its convention is concluded.

“It’s been 20 years since I entered politics. What I observe now is those who have been oppressed are trying to oppress the others when they consolidated power in their hands. Those who experienced the oppression should not oppress the others,” Babacan said in his opening remarks, referring to the AKP.

Explaining that he joined politics after his sister was expelled from the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in the late 1990s for wearing a headscarf, Babacan said, “We have resolved this problem, and nobody will dare to introduce this ban again.”

The government has failed to solve the economic problems and has increased poverty throughout the country, Babacan said, vowing that his DEVA Party will be a remedy to the problems of Turkey.

“Our country has got not even a minute to waste. That’s why I call on the organization: You will bring the problems of the rural to the center of politics,” he stated. “It’s Turkey’s time for democracy and progress.”