Former Turkish PM Davutoğlu: Erdoğan is turning the country into a disastrous family business

ANKARA – In an article on Sunday, Tamara Qiblawi, writing for CNN, argued the foreign policy of the Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is close to reaching a dead-end road as a result of the continuing deterioration of the Turkish economy and international isolation.

Qiblawi pointed out that Erdoğan’s policies aggressive and adversarial foreign policy has led several Arab and European countries to reassess Turkey as a competitive, rather than a cooperative, regional actor. Only Azerbaijan, Qatar, Somalia, and the half of Libya in control of the Government of National Accord (GNA) have remained Turkey’s allies.

Internally, Erdoğan had achieved remarkable progress during the first years of his rule. However, the Turkish economy has begun to deteriorate, and the Turkish Lira continues to weaken. With the additional burden of its military involvement around the region and increasing public debt and inflation, it is expected that the Turkish economy will continue its downward trajectory for at least the next year.

Former Prime Minister and former head of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) Ahmet Davutoğlu, who has since split from the AKP and formed his own political party, the Future Party (Gelecek Partisi, GP), attacked Erdoğan, describing him and his family as the biggest calamity that has befallen the country.

Davutoğlu stated that questions revolve around the cause of poverty, unemployment, inflation, corruption, and injustice in Turkey, adding that rather than tackle these issues, Erdoğan has turned the country into a family business.

He also emphasized that Erdoğan was forced to ally with the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) in order to remain in power.