The Turkish Future Party, a political party that split from the Justice and Development Party, was founded by former Turkish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in 2019. The party adopts the principles of political pluralism and equality, and is affiliated with conservative currents. The party mainly opposes Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his internal policies, and believes that The Justice Party "deviated" from its principles.

Origin and establishment

The Turkish Future Party was founded on December 12, 2019, by Ahmet Davutoglu, after he defected from the Justice and Development Party and switched to the ranks of the opposition.

The party held its founding conference with the participation of 154 founding members, some of whom are members and leaders who have resigned from the Justice and Development Party.

Thought and ideology

The Future Party calculates given the background of its founders on the right of the center and the conservative current, but it is keen to take a distance between it and the nationalists.

"We are a community belonging to different religions, we come from different ethnic backgrounds, but we are equal and honorable citizens," said party leader Ahmet Davutoglu after the party's first founding congress.

Davutoglu confirmed that his new party adopts an open policy based on freedoms and pluralism, but at the same time it is based on "respecting the customs and traditions of society."

The party opposes the presidential system in force in the country and calls for the re-implementation of the parliamentary system, and for teaching the Kurdish language a second language for all Turks, while expressing its rejection of the racist rhetoric against refugees and foreigners, and instead adopting the call for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees after achieving a safe environment in their country.

Ahmet Davutoglu served as Prime Minister in 3 successive governments between 2014 and 2016 (European)

symbols

Davutoglu is considered the most prominent figure around which the party revolves. Before its founding, he held high positions in the AKP governments, and was one of the party's closest men to its leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who chose him to succeed him as prime minister in 2014.

Davutoglu held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2009 and 2014, and the position of Prime Minister in 3 successive governments between 2014 and 2016, and he resigned on May 5, 2016 after a dispute with Erdogan over the transition to the presidential system after only 6 months of his third term.

Davutoglu continued to be a member of the Justice and Development Party after that, until he broke his silence in July 2019 after the party lost some major municipalities in favor of the opposition, revealing in a press interview a series of criticisms of the party's and the president's performance, saying that "the party deviated from its goals and allied with the nationalists." extremists.”

On September 13 of the same year, he announced his resignation from the party, preempting a decision to dismiss him that the party leadership was about to take, and revealed his plan to form his new party to enter the political competition.

Among the prominent figures who participated in the founding of the Future Party, the former head of the Justice and Development Party branch in Istanbul: Selim Temurji, the former director of security in Denizli and Konya Mevlut Demir, the former head of the Higher Education Council Yusuf Ziya Ozkan and the former head of the Syrian National Coalition Khaled Khoja.

The most prominent stations

The Future Party, represented by its president, Ahmet Davutoglu, participated in the meetings of opposition leaders within the framework of what was later known as the "six-party table" alliance since their first meeting in February 2022. The opposition bloc includes the Republican People's Party, the Good Party, the Happiness Party, the Democratic Party, and the Democracy and Progress Party, in addition to to the party of the future.

The Secretary-General of the Future Party, Issa Masih Shaheen, announced at a gathering of party supporters in the Sultanbeyli district of Istanbul, in September 2022, that Ahmet Davutoglu is the party's candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.

During the gathering, which was attended by Ahmet Davutoglu, banners were raised reading "Our candidate, Ahmet Davutoglu," noting that the heads of the six opposition parties announced at their meeting held on August 23, 2022 that they would present a consensual candidate without specifying his identity.

In December 2022, Davutoglu, along with other opposition leaders, participated in the gathering that Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu called for in front of the municipality building in solidarity with him after a court decision imprisoned him for two and a half years and prevented him from practicing politics.