Kemal Derviş

Former Turkish economy minister Kemal Dervis, August 21, 2002, in Ankara. Photo: EPA PHOTO EPA/TARIK TINAZAY

Kemal Derviş, Türkiye's former economy minister, has died at the age of 74 in the hospital in Washington where he received treatment.

The former minister had been receiving Parkinson's treatment in the U.S. for a while.

Derviş served as the Economy Minister during an economic crisis in 2000 and 2001, and then was elected as a deputy of the Republican People's Party (CHP).

For the past year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has exploited his country’s state of emergency to rule by decree, purging government ranks, imprisoning political dissenters and crushing independent media.

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) celebrates its 16th anniversary in Ankara today, Aug. 14.

I was there when the party was founded by former Istanbul mayor Tayyip Erdoğan as an offspring of the Islamic-conservative Milli Görüş movement led by Necmettin Erbakan.

'Reflections on Progress: Essays on the Global Political Economy' by Kemal Derviş (Brookings Institution Press, 208 pages, $21)