Ali Babacan
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Ali Babacan (born 1967 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish politician. He is currently State Minister for Economy in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in November 2002. On May 24, 2005, he was appointed Turkey's chief negotiator in accession talks with the European Union.
Babacan graduated from the TED Ankara College ranking first among the class of 1985. He attended the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and, received in 1989 his BS degree in Industrial Engineering with the highest marks. He went to the USA on Fulbright Scholarship for postgraduate studies and, received a MBA degree from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1992 with majors in marketing, organizational behavior and international business.
Babacan worked then for two years as an associate at QRM, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, a company doing financial consulting to the top executives of the major banks in the United States. He returned to Turkey in 1994 and, served as a chief advisor to the mayor of Ankara the same year. He was the chairman of his family owned textile company between 1994 and 2002.
He entered politics in 2002 as a co-founder and a Board member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and, was elected to the parliament as the Deputy of Ankara on November 3, 2002. He was appointed State Minister in charge of the Economy on November 18, 2002 as the youngest member of the cabinet at only 35 years of age.
Babacan had the duty to steer a painful economic reform program, which was backed by multi-billion-dollar IMF loans; with its help Turkish economy achieved a spectacular recovery after two severe crises. He stayed always away from the rough-and-tumble of the Turkish political arena and focused solely on the economic reform, acting rather as a technocrat without indulging into populism.
However, many respectable economists credit Kemal Dervis, a previous minister with uncomparable economic experience for the recovery.
On May 24, 2005, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his appointment as chief negotiator in Turkey's accession talks with the European Union, which will start on October 3, 2005.
Babacan attended several top meetings like of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and Bilderberg Group between 2003 and 2005.
