Erdoğan comes under fire from former ally

Turkish
President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan is coming under fire from a former ally and member of his party,
namely Ali Babacan, the leader of the opposition Democracy and Progress Party.
Babacan criticized Erdoğan
recently for turning Turkey into a country full of fear.
He vowed to release
political prisoners soon after he mounts the saddle of Turkey.
Babacan is known to
have managed the Turkish economy until 2015. He was a senior member of the
ruling Justice and Development Party before he expressed opposition to Erdoğan's
tightening grip on the party and on Turkey as a whole.
Babacan quit the
Justice and Development Party in July 2019 and called for a return to
democracy. He also founded the Democracy and Progress Party.
Babacan commented in
a TV interview on May 26 on amendments proposed to the election law by the
Justice and Development Party that may prevent the Democracy and Progress Party
and other new political parties from fielding candidates in the next general
elections.
The amendments make
it necessary for 20 lawmakers to resign from parliament and join each of the
new parties so that these parties can participate in the elections.
Confrontation
plan
Babacan said his
party would participate in elections, regardless of the difficulties it would
face on the road.
A party
official, meanwhile, conceded the presence of difficulties in this regard.
He said the
party would participate in the elections, slated for the end of 2023,
especially if the ruling party fails in passing the proposed amendments to the
election law.
He added,
however, that his party would have to convince 20 members of the parliament to
join it if the amendments are approved.