Former Erdogan ally to form rival party before year-end

ISTANBUL: Former Turkish deputy prime minister Ali Babacan will form a new political party by the end of the year to challenge President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, announcing his intentions in an interview published Tuesday after months of speculation.

In his first comments since resigning from the AKP, Babacan told the Karar newspaper that the ruling party had strayed from its founding principles and that he was still working to find like-minded individuals to forge a team to lead the new party. He added that Gul is supportive but not formally included.

Growing worries over judicial impartiality, a recession that sent unemployment and inflation soaring, and impatience among Turks over hosting 3.6 Syrian refugees has trimmed Erdogan's voter base.Any further erosion could deeply hurt the AKP, which relies on an alliance with a nationalist party to hang on to its parliamentary majority.

"Values like human rights, freedoms, populist democracy and the rule of law are ones that we always defend and believe in. These principles are not a periodic political preference for us," he said, adding that the AKP was committed to these in the past.

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