Erdogan’s former allies to challenge AKP’s rule in Turkey

Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s new party is widely expected to take supporters away from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). (Reuters)
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Updated 12 December 2019
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Erdogan’s former allies to challenge AKP’s rule in Turkey

  • Ahmet Davutoglu served as prime minister and chairman of the AKP from 2014 to 2016 before falling out with Erdogan
  • Insiders expect the new party to be called Gelecek Partisi (Future Party) and to use a cinar (plane) tree as its logo.

ANKARA: Turkey’s former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu filed an official application with the Interior Ministry to legally establish his new yet-to-be-named political party on Thursday. A launch meeting was scheduled to be held Friday in Ankara, at which further details will be revealed.

Arab News has learned that insiders expect the party to be called Gelecek Partisi (Future Party) and to use a cinar (plane) tree as its logo. The tree, a senior official from the new party told Arab News, is a symbol of the ancient culture of Anatolia, and represents the party’s desire to reach out to all segments of Turkish society.

Davutoglu’s party is widely expected to take supporters away from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), with several of its founding members themselves former AKP lawmakers. But its council also includes hijab-wearing females, Alevites, Roma, Kurds, and Caucasians. The party will also include an ex-deputy from the pro-Kurdish HDP.

One of the most-prominent members of the new party is Nihal Olcok, the ex-wife of Erdogan’s public relations adviser Erol Olcok, who made headlines recently for her harsh criticism of the country’s political management.

A senior official within Davutoglu’s new party recently claimed that a team of AKP-affiliated officials assigned by Erdogan visited Davutoglu last Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to convince him not to launch his party. Davutoglu rejected the offer and two days later Erdogan accused the party leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan — who is expected to launch his own party very soon — of fraud in connection with the state-run Halkbank, which was accused by US prosecutors of being part of a scheme to help Iran evade US sanctions.

Istanbul Sehir University, founded by Davutoglu, had its assets frozen recently by Halkbank when the university was struggling to repay the loan it took from the bank. The University has 7,000 students, many from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Davutoglu issued a written response to Erdogan’s accusations, calling on the president to establish a parliamentary commission to examine the assets of the president and his team, as well as of their relatives.

Davutoglu served as prime minister and chairman of the AKP from 2014 to 2016 before falling out with Erdogan. He resigned from the AKP on September 13, claiming that the party was unable to solve the country’s urgent problems and accusing them of restricting basic liberties, including freedom of speech.

Babacan is reportedly also planning to launch his own breakaway party — which is expected to be of a much more technocratic nature — before the end of the year, but his announcement could be delayed until January 5, because of legal procedures.

In a television interview last month, Babacan cautioned against one-man rule and said Turkey was passing through a “dark tunnel,” and witnessing a range of human-rights violations.

“Our party aims to create a stance that various parts of society agree on,” he also said. “It’s the design of a new Turkey that is realistic and can be put into practice.”


Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours

Updated 2 sec ago
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Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours how Palestinian militant group Hamas would respond to a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

Updated 04 July 2025
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Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

  • Medical charity warns of new threat from escalation in fighting in Sudan civil war

KHARTOUM: Civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan face mass atrocities and ethnic violence in the civil war between the regular army and its paramilitary rivals, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned on Thursday.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have sought to consolidate their power in Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum in March. Their predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.

The paramilitaries have intensified attacks on El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state which they have besieged since May 2024 in an effort to push the army out of its final stronghold in the region.
“People are not only caught in indiscriminate heavy fighting ... but also actively targeted by the Rapid Support Forces and their allies, notably on the basis of their ethnicity,” said Michel-Olivier Lacharite, Medecins Sans Frontieres’ head of emergencies. There were “threats of a full-blown assault,” on El-Fasher, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people largely cut off from food and water supplies and deprived of access to medical care, he said.


Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

Updated 04 July 2025
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Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia moved on Thursday to reassure Egypt about its water supply after completing work on a controversial giant $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile.

“To our neighbors downstream, our message is clear: the dam is not a threat, but a shared opportunity,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

“The energy and development it will generate stand to uplift not just Ethiopia. We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water. Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is 1.8 km wide and 145 meters high, and is Africa's largest hydroelectric project. It can hold 74 billion cubic meters of water and generate more than 5,000 megawatts of power — more than double Ethiopia’s current output. It will begin full operations in September.

Egypt already suffers from severe water scarcity and sees the dam as an existential threat because the country relies on the Nile for 97 percent of its water. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Sudan’s leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan met last week and “stressed their rejection of any unilateral measures in the Blue Nile basin.” They were committed to safeguarding water security in the region, Sisi’s spokesman said.


Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says

Updated 03 July 2025
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Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says

  • The “Flight operations at the airport continued normally,” the Irbil airport authority said

IRBIL, Iraq: An explosive drone was shot down near Irbil airport in northern Iraq on Thursday, the Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said in a statement.

There were no casualties reported, according to two security sources.

The “Flight operations at the airport continued normally and the airport was not affected by any damage,” the Irbil airport authority said in a statement.

The incident only caused a temporary delay in the landing of one aircraft, the statement added.


Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims

Updated 03 July 2025
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Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims

  • They say there is a strategic opportunity to integrate the UNESCO World Heritage Site into routes for Christian travelers
  • Head of tourism authority says highlighting Petra’s significance to Christian heritage itineraries could enhance Jordan’s position on global religious tourism map

LONDON: Officials from Jordan and the Vatican met on Thursday to discuss ways in which they can cooperate to advance religious tourism, including the promotion of the ancient city of Petra as a destination for Christian pilgrims.

Fares Braizat, who chairs the board of commissioners of the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority, said that highlighting the significance of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of Christian heritage itineraries could enhance Jordan’s position on the global religious tourism map.

The country has a number of important Christian sites, the most significant of which is the location on the eastern bank of the Jordan River where Jesus is said to have been baptized by John the Baptist. Several popes have visited it, including Francis and John Paul II.

Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, the Vatican’s ambassador to Jordan, confirmed the interest in collaborating with Jordanian authorities, and praised the nation’s stability and its rich historical and religious heritage.

Both officials acknowledged the strategic opportunity that exists to integrate Petra into pilgrimage routes for Christian travelers, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The Petra tourism authority recently lit up the Colosseum in Rome with the signature colors of the historic Jordanian site to celebrate a twinning agreement as part of a marketing strategy to attract European visitors, and to raise Petra’s profile globally as a premier cultural and spiritual tourism destination.

The Vatican itself is also a major tourism destination, for Christian pilgrims in particular. In 2025 it is expected to welcome between 30 and 35 million visitors during its latest Jubilee Year, a significant ecclesiastical event that takes place every 25 years.