An unprecedented challenge inside the Turkish Ruling party… Davutoglu speaks of a “widespread despair” in Erdogan’s party

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by regime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been in a state of despair amid mounting internal differences, former Turkish prime minister Ahmed Davutoglu said.

In a new blow to the head of the Turkish government… One of Erdogan’s allies resign from the ruling party.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday, Davutoglu said the party’s “deviation” from its core values ​​was deeply disquieting from its lower ranks to its upper echelon.

“In the past three years, I have noticed that these fundamental values, which we have respected throughout our lives, have been ignored”, Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu, who had previously served as Turkish prime minister and president of the Justice and Development from 2014 to 2016, and Foreign Minister from 2009 to 2014, considered Turkish institutions to be more vulnerable, noting that the transition to the presidential system, which enabled Erdogan to mobilize A force virtually unprecedented in his hands, “damaged the infrastructure” of Turkey.

Although he remained a member of the Justice and Development Party, he stressed that there was a possibility of his secession to form a new political force, which would mean a major split in the ruling party, which Davutoglu considered to be “in a state of widespread despair”.

The former prime minister did not specify a precise date for the establishment of a new party, noting that he still felt “responsible” for the implementation of an attempt to reform from within, but added: “I don’t hope very much”.

“We need a new psychic based on openness, transparency, freedom and talk without any fear…

There can be no solution if you are afraid to think and talk”, he said.

Davutoglu is a prominent member of the Justice and Development Party and has been a strong ally of Erdogan, pledging to keep “even the last breath” in close relations with the Turkish president.

But the development of events took a different route this year.

Davutoglu, along with one of the founders of Justice and Development, Ali Babacan, became one of the biggest internal critics of his party’s approach after the bitter defeat in the local elections, with both Istanbul and Ankara losing.

Criticism by former party activists such as Davutoglu and Babacan, who announced his resignation from membership in the Justice and Development Party and his intention to create a new political force, was a “unprecedented challenge” for the Turkish president, especially at the time Where he faces deep economic problems and sharp differences in relations with the West.

Erdogan responded angrily to these developments, especially the prospects of schism in his party, and said threatening: “Those who participate in such treason will pay a heavy price”.