ISTANBUL: Former Turkish deputy prime minister Ali Babacan will form a new political party before the end of the year to challenge President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, announcing his intentions in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.
Babacan resigned from the AK Party in July, citing “deep differences.” He had been a founding member of AK Party, and served as economy and foreign minister during its first years in power before becoming deputy prime minister, a role he held from 2009 to 2015.
Babacan told the Karar newspaper that he was still working to find like-minded individuals to forge a team to lead the new party.
“This will take some time,” he told the newspaper. “We want the party to be formed before 2020. The quality is very important here,“
Erdogan’s AK Party suffered a stinging electoral defeat in Istanbul mayoral elections in June, and a party led by Babacan could further erode Erdogan’s support base.
Former Erdogan ally to form rival party before year-end
Former Erdogan ally to form rival party before year-end
- Babacan resigned from the AK Party in July, citing “deep differences”
- “We want the party to be formed before 2020. The quality is very important here,“ he said
Iran’s new supreme leader ‘safe and sound’ despite war injury reports: president’s son
TEHRAN: Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "safe and sound" despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, said the son of the Iranian president on Wednesday.
"I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound," said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel.
State television had called Khamenei a "wounded veteran of the Ramadan war" but never specified his injury.
The new supreme leader is the son and successor of the Islamic republic's longtime ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 which triggered a war across the Middle East.
The 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, a discreet figure who has rarely appeared in public or spoken at official events, has yet to address the nation or issue a written statement since he was declared supreme leader on Sunday.
In a Wednesday report, the New York Times quoting three unnamed Iranian officials said that Khamenei "had suffered injuries, including to his legs, but that he was alert and sheltering at a highly secure location with limited communication".
