By Ahval

Ahmet Davutoğlu, a former prime minister of Turkey, spoke of his unease at the widespread pessimism in the country during a conference this week, Turkish nationalist daily Yeniçağ writer Orhan Uğuroğlu reported on Tuesday.

“It saddens me to see an extreme pessimism spreading across Turkey, in academic circles, among bureaucrats and in the general public,” Davutoğlu said.

Davutoğlu’s comments came on a week that soaring inflation has driven citizens in Turkey’s major citizens to queue for hours to buy cheap fruit, vegetables and cleaning products from state subsidised vendors.

The former Justice and Development Party (AKP) prime minister, who has also served as foreign minister under the ruling party, told the conference he preferred to adopt a stance of “realist optimism,” which he said left space to find opportunity in geopolitical crises.

The conference focused on “systemic earthquakes” on a national and international level, and Davutoğlu, an academic whose work focuses on international relations, made his comments during a speech in which he discussed his one of his books on foreign policy.

He also spoke about Turkey’s domestic issues, however, and his comments may raise eyebrows as rumours circulate about a possible new party set up by former AKP senior officials.

Davutoğlu discussed a state’s dual responsibilities of providing freedoms for its citizens while also ensuring their security.

“If a state tells its citizens it will provide security but warns them not to ask for freedom, this leads to authoritarianism,” the former prime minister said, adding that a state’s strongest claim to legitimacy comes from providing the broadest freedoms possible without restricting freedoms.

The comments come after years of restrictions of freedoms in Turkey that have led to warnings from international institutions that the country has slid into authoritarianism.

U.S.-based human rights organisation Freedom House downgraded Turkey’s status to “Not Free” in its 2018 “Freedom in the World” report.

Davutoğlu, who served as prime minister from August 2014 until he was forced out by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in May 2016, is one of several senior AKP stalwarts sidelined in recent years to make way for a new generation of party officials.

Another of these is Abdullah Gül, Erdoğan’s predecessor as president, and another name frequently touted as a potential leader for a new party made up of former AKP politicians. Last week, Gül made headlines when he criticised the rise of international populism.

Uğuroğlu asked Davutoğlu whether he had plans to create a new party, and will publish the former prime minister’s answer on Wednesday.