NO. 22 MAY 2020 Introduction New Political Parties and the Reconfigu- ration of Turkey’s Political Landscape Salim Çevik The recent emergence of two splinter parties from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) points to a deepening crisis within the party and growing discontent toward party leader and president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Although the leaders of the two new parties, Ali Babacan and Ahmet Davutoğlu, are both former high-ranking AKP politicians, they differ significantly in their style of politics and ideological leanings. Babacan is trying to position himself at the center of Turkey’s ideological spectrum and emphasize issues of good governance and the rule of law. Davutoğlu is aiming for the more conservative voters, focusing on the moral shortcomings of the current regime. Davutoğlu’s strategy has better chances in the short term, whereas Babacan is poised for a long game. The importance of both parties relies on their potential to attract votes from the AKP base. In a country that is deeply divided into two almost equal-sized camps that support Erdoğan and oppose him, even a small fraction of votes shifting from the AKP to the opposition can be a game changer. On March 11, former Deputy Prime Minis- ter Ali Babacan announced the formation of his long-awaited political party. Former President Abdullah Gül is known to be sup- portive of the party, even though he and his close associates did not have an official role in its formation. The party name, DEVA (“remedy”), is also the acronym for the Democracy and Progress Party. Earlier last December, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and later Prime Minister (PM) Ahmet Davutoğlu formed his own Future Party (GP). Both will compete for the elec- torate that has been disappointed by the AKP – a group that is slowly but steadily growing. The launching of the new parties fell short of expectations in terms of raising the public’s interest. Particularly DEVA attracted little attention on the day of its founding. This was mostly due to public fatigue, as its debut had been postponed several times last year. Once it was officially formed, the party could have generated interest, but the coronavirus epidemic began dominating the public debate and DEVA disappeared from the headlines. However, these parties still have more potential than other opposition parties to attract votes from the AKP base. Currently, the political system is domi- nated by the ruling conservative-nationalist