Davutoğlu says his Future Party will dissolve

ANKARA

Former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced on July 29 that his Future Party would end its political activities, describing the decision as an effort to distance itself from what he called Türkiye’s “corrupted political climate.”

In a statement posted on X, Davutoğlu said that the move was “not a surrender” or a withdrawal from politics, but “a call for everyone to rethink politics.”

“We have decided to withdraw from party politics in order not to become part of the corrupted political climate,” he said, calling the move “a decision to establish moral distance.”

Davutoğlu founded the party in 2019 after breaking with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The announcement came after merger talks between the Future Party, the New Welfare Party (YRP) and the Felicity Party (SP) reportedly failed, according to Turkish media.

The party must hold an extraordinary congress to formally approve its dissolution. The event has been scheduled for Aug. 22.

The Future Party is one of three opposition parties that jointly formed the New Path bloc in parliament alongside the SP and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA). The Future Party currently has four lawmakers within the group.

In his statement, Davutoğlu said Türkiye’s political system had reached “a major deadlock” and warned that growing political polarization was eroding social cohesion.

He also criticized the increasing use of trustee appointments to municipalities and political party defections, saying they had become routine practices that undermined voters’ will.

Davutoğlu also cautioned against what he described as the risk of an opposition driven by revenge politics emerging in response to authoritarianism, corruption, income inequality and rule-of-law violations.

A former foreign minister and prime minister under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Davutoğlu resigned as AKP chair and prime minister in 2016 after a rift with Erdoğan. He founded the Future Party in December 2019, positioning it as a conservative alternative to the ruling party.

In the 2023 elections, Future Party candidates entered parliament on the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) lists as part of a broader opposition alliance.