Ali Babacan

Infobox Politician
name = Ali Babacan

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imagesize = 200px
caption = Ali Babacan at the World Economic Forum in 2008.
birth_date = birth date and age|1967|10|09
birth_place = Ankara, Turkey
office = Minister of Foreign Affairs
term_start = 29 August 2007
term_end = present
predecessor = Abdullah Gül
successor = incumbent
religion = Islam
party = Justice and Development Party

Ali Babacan (born 9 October 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. Babacan also continues to be the negotiator of Turkey's membership of the European Union. He was previously State Minister for Economy in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in November 2002.

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 a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with majors in marketing, organizational behavior and international business.

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 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.

Political life

He entered politics in 2002 as a co-founder and a Board member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and, was elected to parliament as a deputy for Ankara on November 3, 2002. He was appointed State Minister in charge of the Economy on November 18, 2002, 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 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.

References

* Biyografi.info - [http://www.biyografi.info/kisi/ali-babacan "Biography of Ali Babacan"]

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