DEVA Party leader Babacan tests positive for virus

ANKARA

Opposition Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the most high-profile Turkish politician to contract COVID-19.

“I just learned my COVID-19 test result is positive. Thank God, I am in good condition at the moment. My doctors said I needed to remain in quarantine with my family for some time. I will continue my work from home, God willing. Stay healthy and please take care of yourselves,” Babacan wrote on Twitter on Aug. 25.

Babacan, a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), served as economy and then foreign minister before becoming deputy prime minister, a role he held from 2009 to 2015.

He announced his resignation from the AKP on July 8, 2019, citing “differences.”

Babacan on March 11 announced the launch of his new political party.

In July, nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener went into self-isolation after a member of her security detail tested positive for COVID-19.

Akşener tested negative for the coronavirus, but still decided to go into self-isolation.

Earlier in August, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop said that 44 personnel and lawmakers had tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak.

“Five lawmakers were in hospital while another four MPs were being treated at their homes for the coronavirus,” said Şentop on Aug. 6.