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Ali Babacan
Babacan at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008.
Minister Responsible for the Economy
Incumbent
Assumed office  1 May 2009-
Preceded by	Nazım Ekren
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 29 August 2007 – 1 May 2009
Preceded by	Abdullah Gül
Succeeded by	Ahmet Davutoğlu
Born	April 4, 1967 (1967-04-04) (age 42) Ankara, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Religion	Islam

Ali Babacan (born 4 April 1967 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish politician. On August 29, 2007, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey in the new cabinet of re-elected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Babacan succeeded Abdullah Gül, who became President. He was previously Minister of Economy in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in November 2002.

[edit] Education

Babacan graduated from the TED Ankara College ranking first among the class of 1985. He attended the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and in 1989 was awarded a BSc in Industrial Engineering with the highest marks. He went to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship to do postgraduate studies and in 1992 received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with majors in marketing, organizational behavior and international business.

[edit] Career in finance

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 major banks in the United States. He returned to Turkey in 1994 and, served as chief advisor to the mayor of Ankara the same year. He was the chairman of his family owned textile company between 1994 and 2002.

[edit] Political life

Babacan speaks to United States President Barack Obama, along with other Turkish, Swiss and Armenian foreign ministers.

He entered politics in 2001 as a co-founder and a Board member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and was elected to parliament as deputy for Ankara on November 3, 2002. He was appointed Minister of Economy on November 18, 2002 and became the youngest member of the cabinet, then at the age of 35.

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 remarkable 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.

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 started on October 3, 2005.

As government minister Babacan has attended several international meetings including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Bilderberg Group.

On May 1, 2009, Babacan was appointed as minister responsible for the economy by Prime Minister Erdoğan, and with additional responsibility for the Treasury.

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ali Babacan

• Biyografi.info - Biography of Ali Babacan

v • d • e Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Bekir Sami Kunduh • Ahmet Muhtar Mollaoğlu • Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk • İsmet İnönü • Şükrü Kaya • Tevfik Rüştü Aras • Şükrü Saracoğlu • Numan Menemencioğlu • Hasan Saka • Necmettin Sadak • Mehmet Fuat Köprülü • Adnan Menderes • Fatin Rüştü Zorlu • Ethem Menderes • Selim Sarper • Feridun Cemal Erkin • Hasan Esat Işık • İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil • Osman Olcay • Haluk Bayülken • Turan Güneş • Metin Esenbel • Gündüz Ökçün • Hayrettin Erkmen • Ertuğrul Ekrem Ceyhun • İlter Türkmen • Vahit Melih Halefoğlu • Mesut Yılmaz • Ali Bozer • Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin • Safa Giray • Hikmet Çetin • Mümtaz Soysal • Murat Karayalçın • Erdal İnönü • Coşkun Kırca • Deniz Baykal • Emre Gönensay • Tansu Çiller • İsmail Cem • Şükrü Sina Gürel • Yaşar Yakış • Abdullah Gül • Ali Babacan • Ahmet Davutoğlu