Ali Babacan

Ali Babacan
Leader of the Democracy and Progress Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 March 2020
Preceded by	Position established
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 1 May 2009 – 28 August 2015
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu
Serving with	Bülent Arınç Beşir Atalay Bekir Bozdağ Emrullah İşler Yalçın Akdoğan Numan Kurtulmuş
Preceded by	Nazım Ekren
Succeeded by	Cevdet Yılmaz
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 29 August 2007 – 1 May 2009
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Abdullah Gül
Succeeded by	Ahmet Davutoğlu
Chief Negotiator for Turkish Accession to the European Union
In office 17 January 2005 – 11 January 2009
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Egemen Bağış
Minister of State Responsible for Economy
In office 18 November 2002 – 29 August 2007
Prime Minister	Abdullah Gül Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Masum Türker
Succeeded by	Mehmet Şimşek
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 1 November 2015 – 9 July 2018
Constituency	Ankara (I) (Nov 2015)
In office 19 November 2002 – 7 June 2015
Constituency	Ankara (I) (2002, 2007, 2011)
Personal details
Born	(1967-04-04) 4 April 1967 (age 57) Ankara, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party (2001–2019) Democracy and Progress Party (2020–present)
Spouse	Ülkü Zeynep Yurter ​ (m. 1995)​
Children	3
Alma mater	Middle East Technical University Northwestern University
Occupation	Politician economist engineer
Signature
Website	alibabacan.com.tr

Ali Babacan (Turkish pronunciation: [aˈli babaˈdʒan]; born 4 April 1967) is a Turkish politician, economist, and engineer. He is the founder and current leader of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA). He served 13 years as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Economy, Chief Negotiator for the EU and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from 2002 to 2015. He was a member of the parliament as well.

He first served as the Minister of State in charge of economic affairs in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He retained this position throughout the 58th and 59th Governments of the Republic of Turkey. On 29 August 2007 he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the 60th Government of the Republic of Turkey.^[1] During 2009–2015, he served as the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs of Turkey.

Ali Babacan had the duty of steering a harsh economic reform program, which was backed by multibillion-dollar IMF loans; under his leadership, the Turkish economy achieved a remarkable recovery after two severe crises.^[2][3] He mostly stayed away from the Turkish political arena and focused on economic reforms, acting more like a technocrat.

In 2019, Babacan left the AKP, citing "deep differences" over the party's direction as a reason, and founded the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) in 2020.^[4] DEVA eventually joined the Nation Alliance, opposing AKP and Turkish president Erdoğan.