DEVA Party Chair Babacan announces new political formation: Also speaks on Gülen's death

In the program he attended, Babacan spoke as follows regarding the FETÖ ringleader: "I wish he had been extradited to Turkey and could have been held accountable. I don't know what happens in another place of reckoning. He misled large masses not only in Turkey but also by exploiting the sacred values of our religion. One must be careful when speaking behind a deceased person, but when viewed as a result, he is someone who has caused the greatest harm to this country."

Responding to questions from Mehmet Akif Ersoy on Habertürk TV, DEVA Party Chair Ali Babacan made the following statements:

"Fethullah Gülen is one of the people who has caused the greatest harm to this country in our recent history. He is a person who lost his balance to the point of directing the structure he established toward a treacherous coup attempt and causing this country's Parliament to be bombed with fighter jets. I wish he had been extradited to Turkey and could have been held accountable. I don't know what happens in another place of reckoning. He misled large masses not only in Turkey but also by exploiting the sacred values of our religion. One must be careful when speaking behind a deceased person, but when viewed as a result, he is someone who has caused the greatest harm to this country."

"MUST NOT DEVIATE FROM COMPETENCE AND MERIT"

"Such organizations are very convenient organizations for the intelligence services of some countries. Whoever has been supporting, protecting, and shielding that organization until today will likely continue to use them if they serve their purposes. The end of the organization may also come. We must protect our country and our state from FETÖ and similar structures. One must be very careful. This organization is also an organization that has known how to hide itself. One must be very, very careful. The way to do this is through this: competence and merit must be observed in state recruitment. It is always a risk when there are clusters and cliques in certain institutions. Units must be formed according to competence and merit. Objective criteria must be followed in public recruitment and promotions. FETÖ goes, METÖ comes, and this country will never be free of trouble. You must not deviate from competence and merit. The Republic of Turkey must be careful. There must never be any horse-trading."

"HUMANITY IS CURRENTLY COLLAPSING IN TURKEY"

"Turkey has been in a major collapse for the last 6-7 years. This is not just economic, but also a legal, judicial, and moral collapse. Humanity is currently collapsing in Turkey. Whether you look for those who murder women by beheading them, the murder of our little girl Narin, or those who play with the lives of newborn babies. It is impossible for Turkey to solve any problem without institutions working soundly and the judiciary working independently and impartially. The economy is a manifestation. You see it as a number. You realize the social collapse underneath it a little later. Today, there is a drug problem in Turkey. Illegal gambling. People are playing illegal bets on their mobile phones. You can shut down Instagram, you can keep Twitter alive. The state can deal with these. The public's turning to this is partly because it has become difficult to earn money in this country with the sweat of one's brow and the strength of one's wrist. They are looking for ways to get rich quick to earn money. This country has become full of young people chasing tenders and chasing money in special areas opened up for them."

"THEY ARE STRUGGLING TO GET RID OF KKM"

"The economy is the easy part. If I were President today, I would put 10 solid people in charge of the economy. It would be fixed in 2 years at the latest with 2-hour weekly meetings. Great damage has been done. Ever since the son-in-law era, Mr. Erdoğan has caused great damage by constantly saying, 'My field is the economy, I am an economist.' Why doesn't TÜİK work transparently? Why doesn't it explain things now when it explained everything in our time? Why doesn't the Central Bank explain? It is obliged to publish the foreign currency it buys and sells. The moment the Currency-Protected Deposit (KKM) was announced, I said, 'This is a project to bankrupt the state and the Treasury.' Now they are struggling to get rid of it. This has cost hundreds of billions of dollars."

"PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM IS APPLIED IN 28 COUNTRIES"

"Fiscal and monetary policy tightening is necessary. If I were President right now, I would immediately convene the Economic and Social Council. This is a requirement of the constitution. It needs to listen to social stakeholders. It needs to make institutions independent and strong. If you have TÜİK audited from the outside, it will be fixed immediately. What have they done about savings so far? Real savings are in public procurement. The state produces a 1-lira product for 3 liras. We look at the costs in earthquake housing, costs are increasing by three times. Costs are far above real construction costs. The slightest changes were made regarding public procurement. There is a clause in the legislation called 'urgent works.' There is the EU's public procurement legislation. Why don't you come and apply it in Turkey? 28 countries are currently applying this. Is there no investment in those 28 countries? When it is transparent and open, interest networks will not work."

"THE LARGEST INFORMAL ECONOMY IS IN REAL ESTATE"

"The most important informality in Turkey is in the real estate sector. Can a title deed be obtained at the real price? It can be bought with an invoice far below what is paid. The economic management cannot intervene right now. The informal financing of politics comes from there. Because it comes from there, political parties cannot touch it, they cannot talk about it. We are comfortable, we talk. Zoning changes are passed unanimously by the municipal council. Parties agree in the zoning council."

"AWARENESS IS CREATED ON SOCIAL MEDIA"

"Awareness in society is only created when this issue appears on social media. I am saddened that social awareness is not created unless someone films something with a mobile phone. Awareness and sensitivity must be created in the public through natural channels. There is an effort to cover up everything related to the government and the ruling power. There is an effort to prevent it from becoming news. Awareness is only created if someone catches it on social media. In elderly care and treatment, the entire relationship of private hospitals with the Social Security Institution needs to be put on the table. There may be a network related to them billing as if they are performing more procedures and receiving the figures from the state. This investigation must be carried out with broad audits. The essential thing is rule-based management. Daron Acemoğlu received the Nobel Prize in Economics. Acemoğlu's subject was the construction of institutions and the contribution of sound institutions to prosperity."

"IF THOSE WHO DO NOT FOLLOW THE RULES BENEFIT..."

"If law and justice do not work, if the judiciary does not work impartially. If the judiciary worked soundly, if no one was protected or shielded, if the criminal received the punishment they deserved, people would not dare to do this. If you believed that you would pay no price when you ran a red light, who would care after a while? A group of people thinks, 'I have a relationship with the government, my back is strong.' The functioning of rules is only possible with sanctions for those who do not comply. I was in Singapore for 2 days this summer. There are a lot of rule signs. The amount of the fine is written under the signs. The way our truck drivers follow the rules is different from the way they drive in Europe. This means it is very, very related to rule-based management. If the President of our country can say, 'I do not follow the constitution, I do not respect the Constitutional Court.' Especially if those who do not follow the rules benefit from it, then good luck to anyone who tries to stop them."

"CITIZENS ARE HAPPIER IN THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM"

"New constitution efforts have been announced. Mr. Kurtulmuş invited us. We left our constitutional work with him and came. Our work, which aims for a strong parliamentary system, ensures the separation of powers, strengthens the Parliament, and addresses fundamental rights and freedoms, is ready. Our minds are very clear on the parliamentary system. It was a referendum won by a narrow margin. People lived through it, they saw the results. We came out with our own candidate, Mr. Erdoğan came out, it was 52 to 48. Now, the number of our citizens who want the parliamentary system in public opinion polls is high. They answer when asked. When we were founding our party, we looked at the world. 9 of the top 10 countries in the rule of law are governed by a parliamentary system. 9 of the 10 countries with the highest prosperity are governed by a parliamentary system. There are a few success examples of the presidential system, but the parliamentary system produces higher happiness for the citizens of that country and the law is managed better."

"WE COULD NOT CONVINCE OUR CITIZENS"

"Why did inflation explode in Turkey? Because of one person's insistence and stubbornness. Why is food and energy inflation among the highest in the world? Because one person misdirected a huge system. If you don't have sound institutions, an independently working Central Bank, and if the parliament cannot perform its oversight duty, one person's mistakes take a huge country somewhere. Our citizens' final voting preference is not just about the economy or inflation; they look at the whole picture. To be honest, in the 2023 elections, we were at the Table of Six. We could not convince our citizens that we would govern this country without fighting or noise."

"AN OPPOSITIONAL STANCE MUST BE PRESENTED"

"If normalization means being able to talk, we support it to the end. But this dialogue should never prevent the opposition from doing its job. If you cannot criticize enough, that can also cause harm. Normalization is the expression of the ruling power. This means they admit they have been doing something abnormal. The opposition must be very careful. There is a problem there. That is my observation. One must present an oppositional stance in a sufficiently solid way. One must be able to say wrong to what is wrong. The opposition must put forward the claim that 'I can do it better.' We express our views in every field. We have work the size of an encyclopedia. We say we are ready to govern the country when we are in power. There is no one else doing this in Turkey."

"WE SET OUT FOR A THIRD OPTION"

"Ask our citizens, 'What is your opinion about the DEVA Party?' Ask a taxi driver. He says, 'They govern well, they are reliable, and they solve problems.' We also need to strengthen ourselves. We started a new process at our grand congress last week. On one side there is the ruling power, and on the other side there is the main opposition that has not been able to reveal what it will do. Our citizens should not be condemned to one of these two. We need parties whose goals and dreams for Turkey overlap to work more closely and build a third way. Was it said from the Future Party that 'a merger could happen'? Our delegations worked. Maybe it could happen in the future. As a result of a real merger, there should not be a two-headed result. There needs to be a real merger independent of individuals. We have put that on the shelf now, it can always come down from the shelf. We are working on more parties forming a common front. There are parties we are talking to. I do not find it appropriate to mention names without their consent. In the coming months, we want to say to our citizens, 'We understand that you have no heart for either side, that is why we set out for a strong third option, we are before you in unity and solidarity.' This is a union of power and energy of a certain number of parties. Whether we go as an alliance while going to the election, how the lists will be, what will happen regarding the presidential candidacy, will be discussed in time. First, to ensure unity and solidarity and appear before our citizens."