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Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
Encyclopedia
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right
political party
in Turkey
. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament
. Its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
, is Prime Minister
, while fellow former party member and PM Abdullah Gül
is President
.
Founded in 2001 by members of a number of existing parties, the party won a landslide victory in the 2002 election
, winning over two-thirds of parliamentary seats. Abdullah Gül became Prime Minister, but a constitutional amendment in 2003 allowed Erdogan to take his place. In early general elections in 2007
, the AKP increased its share of the vote to 47%; its number of seats fell to 341, but Erdogan was returned as PM, while Gül was elected President
. In the general elections held on June 12, 2011
, the AKP further increased its share of the popular vote to 49.9% and secured 327 parliamentary seats to form a third-consecutive majority government.
The AK Party portrays itself as a liberal conservative party in the Turkish political spectrum that advocates a liberal market economy and Turkish membership in the European Union
. In 2005, the AK Party was granted observer membership in the European People's Party
.
, including people such as Abdullah Gül
and Bülent Arınç
. A second founding group consisted of members of the social conservative Motherland Party
who had been close to Turgut Özal
, such as Cemil Çiçek
and Abdülkadir Aksu
. Some members of the Turkish Democratic Party, such as Hüseyin Çelik
and Köksal Toptan
, joined the AKP. Some members, such as Kürşad Tüzmen
, had nationalist
backgrounds while representatives of the nascent 'Muslim left' current were largely excluded. In addition a large number of people joined a political party for the first time, such as Ali Babacan
, Selma Aliye Kavaf
, Egemen Bağış
and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
. All of these people joined Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to found the new party.
, which saw every party previously represented in the Grand National Assembly ejected from the chamber. In the process, it won a two-thirds majority of seats, becoming the first Turkish party in 11 years to win an outright majority. Erdoğan normally would have become prime minister, but was banned from holding any political office after a 1994 incident in which he read a poem deemed pro-Islamist by judges. As a result, Gül became prime minister. It survived the crisis over the 2003 invasion of Iraq
despite a massive back bench rebellion where over a hundred AK Party MPs joined those of the opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP) in parliament to prevent the government from allowing the United States
to launch a Northern offensive in Iraq from Turkish territory. Later, Erdoğan's ban was abolished with the help of the CHP and Erdoğan became prime minister by being selected to parliament after a by-election in Siirt.
The AK Party has undertaken structural reforms, and during its rule Turkey has seen rapid growth and an end to its three decade long period of hyperinflation
. Inflation had fallen to 8.8% by 2004.
Influential business publications such as The Economist
consider the AK Party's government the most successful in Turkey in decades.
(CHP) on the South and West Coasts, and against the Social Democratic People's Party
, which is supported by some Kurds in the South-East of Turkey.
In January 2005, the AK Party was admitted as an observer member in the European People's Party
(EPP), the conservative party of the EU. It is likely to become a full member of the EPP if Turkey is admitted to the EU.
to protest the possible candidacy of Erdoğan in the 2007 presidential election
, afraid that if elected as President, he would alter the secular nature of the Turkish state. Erdoğan announced on April 24, 2007 that the party had decided to nominate Abdullah Gül as the AK Party candidate in the presidential election. The protests continued over the next several weeks, with over one million reported at an April 29 rally in Istanbul, tens of thousands reported at separate protests on May 4 in Manisa
and Çanakkale
, and one million in İzmir
on May 13.
Early parliamentary elections were called after the failure of the parties in parliament to agree on the next Turkish president. The opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary vote and deadlocked the election process. At the same time, Erdoğan claimed the failure to elect a president was a failure of the Turkish political system and proposed to modify the constitution.
The AK Party achieved victory in the rescheduled July 22, 2007 elections with 46.6% of the vote, translating into control of 341 of the 550 available parliamentary seats. Although the AK Party received significantly more votes in 2007 than in 2002, the number of parliamentary seats they controlled decreased due to the rules of the Turkish electoral system.
However, they retained a comfortable ruling majority. "Don't Stop, Keep Going On!" was the slogan of the Justice and Development Party in the general elections of 2007.
Territorially, the elections of 2007 saw a major advance for the AK Party, with the party outpolling the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
in traditional Kurdish strongholds such as Van
and Mardin
, as well as outpolling the secular-left CHP in traditionally secular areas such as Antalya
and Artvin
. Overall, the AK Party secured a plurality of votes in 68 of Turkey's 81 provinces, with its strongest vote of 71% coming from Bingöl
. Its weakest vote, a mere 12%, came from Tunceli
, the only Turkish province where the Alevi
form a majority. Abdullah Gül was elected President in late August with 339 votes in the third round – the first at which a simple majority is required – after deadlock in the first two rounds, in which a two-thirds majority is needed.
After the opposition parties deadlocked the 2007 presidential election by boycotting the parliament, the ruling AK party proposed a constitutional reform package. The reform package was first vetoed by President Sezer
. Then he applied to the Turkish constitutional court about the reform package, because the president is unable to veto amendments for the second time. The court did not find any problems in the package and 69% of the voters supported the constitutional changes.
The reforms consisted of:
, Turkey's chief prosecutor, Sabih Kanadoğlu, asked the Turkish constitutional court to close the Justice and Development Party, which was leading in the opinion polls at that time. The chief prosecutor accused the Justice and Development Party of abusing the law and justice. He based his case on the fact that the party's leader had been banned from political life. The European Commission
had already criticised Turkey for banning the party's leader from participating in elections.
The court gave its verdict on 9 July 2009, rejecting the demand, and the case against the AK Party was terminated.
At an international press conference in Spain, the prime minister answered a question of a journalist by saying, "What if the headscarf is a symbol? Even if it were a political symbol, does that give [one the] right to ban it? Could you bring prohibitions to symbols?" These statements led to a joint proposal of the AK Party and the MHP for changing the constitution and the law to lift a ban on young women wearing headscarves at universities. This was one of the main reasons for Turkey's chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, to ask the Constitutional Court to close the AK Party. A court-appointed rapporteur
, Osman Can, advocated in his report that the Court should reject the closure case. Four members voted to cut public funding for the party, while the court's chairman voted against closing it down. The court rejected the demands of the prosecutor and did not ban the party. The European Union welcomed the decision by Turkey's highest court not to ban the ruling AK Party.
and Istanbul
.
(Anayasa Uzlaşma Komisyonu). The amendments lacked the two-thirds majority needed to instantly become law, but secured 336 votes in the 550 seat parliament - enough to put the proposals to a referendum. The reform package included a number of issues: such as the right of individuals to appeal to the highest court, the creation of the ombudsman
’s office, the possibility to negotiate a nation-wide labour contract, positive exceptions for female citizens, the ability of civilian courts to convict members of the military, the right of civil servants to go on strike, a privacy law, and the structure of the Constitutional Court. The referendum was agreed by a majority of 58%.
Local elections
Referendums
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
. Its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
, is Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Turkey
The Prime Minister of the Turkey is the head of government in Turkish politics. The prime minister is the leader of a political coalition in the Turkish parliament and the leader of the cabinet....
, while fellow former party member and PM Abdullah Gül
Abdullah Gül
Dr. Abdullah Gül, GCB is the 11th and current President of the Republic of Turkey, serving in that office since 28 August 2007. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002-03, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003-07....
is President
President of Turkey
The President of Turkey is the head of state of the Republic of Turkey. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office but has some important functions...
.
Founded in 2001 by members of a number of existing parties, the party won a landslide victory in the 2002 election
Turkish general election, 2002
Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...
, winning over two-thirds of parliamentary seats. Abdullah Gül became Prime Minister, but a constitutional amendment in 2003 allowed Erdogan to take his place. In early general elections in 2007
Turkish general election, 2007
Turkey's 16th general election was held on July 22, 2007 and resulted in a resounding victory for the incumbent Justice and Development Party...
, the AKP increased its share of the vote to 47%; its number of seats fell to 341, but Erdogan was returned as PM, while Gül was elected President
Turkish presidential election, 2007
The 2007 Turkish presidential election refers to two attempts to elect the country's 11th president, to succeed Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The most likely candidate for president was Abdullah Gül...
. In the general elections held on June 12, 2011
Turkish general election, 2011
Turkey's 17th general election was held on 12 June 2011 to elect 550 new members of Grand National Assembly. They were Turkey's first non-early elections in 34 years.-Background:...
, the AKP further increased its share of the popular vote to 49.9% and secured 327 parliamentary seats to form a third-consecutive majority government.
The AK Party portrays itself as a liberal conservative party in the Turkish political spectrum that advocates a liberal market economy and Turkish membership in the European Union
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
. In 2005, the AK Party was granted observer membership in the European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
.
Formation
The AK Party was established by a wide range of politicians of various political parties and a number of new politicians. The core of the party was formed from the reformist faction of the Islamist Virtue PartyVirtue Party
Virtue Party was an Islamist political party established in December 1998 in Turkey. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned in June 2001, for violating the secularist articles of the Constitution...
, including people such as Abdullah Gül
Abdullah Gül
Dr. Abdullah Gül, GCB is the 11th and current President of the Republic of Turkey, serving in that office since 28 August 2007. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002-03, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003-07....
and Bülent Arınç
Bülent Arinç
Bülent Arınç , is a Turkish politician. He served as the 22nd house speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2002 to 2007. He is one of the State Ministers of Turkey and Vice-Prime Minister today.-Life and education:...
. A second founding group consisted of members of the social conservative Motherland Party
Motherland Party (Turkey)
The Motherland Party, was a political party in Turkey. It was founded in 1983 by Turgut Özal. It was merged to Democratic Party in October 2009...
who had been close to Turgut Özal
Turgut Özal
Halil Turgut Özal was Prime Minister of Turkey and President of Turkey . As Prime Minister, he transformed the economy of Turkey by paving the way for the privatization of many state enterprises.-Early life and career:...
, such as Cemil Çiçek
Cemil Çiçek
Cemil Çiçek is a Turkish politician who is the current Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey since July 4, 2011. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Justice and Development Party Member of Parliament from Ankara. He was formerly Minister of Justice and government spokesman.-Early...
and Abdülkadir Aksu
Abdülkadir Aksu
Abdülkadir Aksu , is a Turkish politician from Diyarbakır. He is married and has 2 children.-Ethnic Origin:According to some sources, he is Kurdish ; according to Üzeyir Tekin, he is of partial Albanian and Kurdish origin; and according to Hasan Celal Güzel, a friend of Aksu family, he is of...
. Some members of the Turkish Democratic Party, such as Hüseyin Çelik
Hüseyin Çelik
Hüseyin Çelik is a former Minister of National Education of Turkey and member of parliament for Van for the ruling Justice and Development Party....
and Köksal Toptan
Köksal Toptan
Köksal Toptan is a Turkish lawyer, politician and a member of the Justice and Development Party. He earlier served as government minister in three cabinets. He was the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey between August 2007 and August 2009.He was educated in the Faculty of Law at...
, joined the AKP. Some members, such as Kürşad Tüzmen
Kürsad Tüzmen
Kürşad Tüzmen is a former Minister of State of Turkey responsible for foreign trade. He has been in this position between 2002 and 2009.-Education and career:...
, had nationalist
Turkish nationalism
Turkish nationalism is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic or linguistic group and puts the interests of the state over other influences, including religious ones.-Pan-Turkism:...
backgrounds while representatives of the nascent 'Muslim left' current were largely excluded. In addition a large number of people joined a political party for the first time, such as Ali Babacan
Ali Babacan
Ali Babacan is a Turkish politician and the current Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the Economy. He was previously Minister of Economy in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party . On August 29, 2007, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs of in the cabinet of...
, Selma Aliye Kavaf
Selma Aliye Kavaf
Selma Aliye Kavaf is a Minister of State of Turkey, responsible for Women and Family Affairs, and a member of parliament for Denizli of the ruling Justice and Development Party.- Early life and career :...
, Egemen Bağış
Egemen Bagis
Egemen Bağış is a Turkish politician, member of Turkish parliament since November 2002, current minister for EU Affairs and chief negotiator of Turkey in accession talks with the European Union...
and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is the current president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He also represents Antalya Province in the Turkish Grand National Assembly...
. All of these people joined Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to found the new party.
2002 general elections
The AK party won a sweeping victory in the 2002 electionsTurkish general election, 2002
Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...
, which saw every party previously represented in the Grand National Assembly ejected from the chamber. In the process, it won a two-thirds majority of seats, becoming the first Turkish party in 11 years to win an outright majority. Erdoğan normally would have become prime minister, but was banned from holding any political office after a 1994 incident in which he read a poem deemed pro-Islamist by judges. As a result, Gül became prime minister. It survived the crisis over the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
despite a massive back bench rebellion where over a hundred AK Party MPs joined those of the opposition Republican People's Party
Republican People's Party (Turkey)
The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...
(CHP) in parliament to prevent the government from allowing the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to launch a Northern offensive in Iraq from Turkish territory. Later, Erdoğan's ban was abolished with the help of the CHP and Erdoğan became prime minister by being selected to parliament after a by-election in Siirt.
Hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
. Inflation had fallen to 8.8% by 2004.
Influential business publications such as The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
consider the AK Party's government the most successful in Turkey in decades.
2004 local elections
In the local elections of 2004, the AK Party won 42% of the votes, making inroads against the secular nationalist Republican People's PartyRepublican People's Party (Turkey)
The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...
(CHP) on the South and West Coasts, and against the Social Democratic People's Party
Social Democratic People's Party (Turkey)
The current Social Democratic People's Party or SHP is a Turkish left social-democratic political party established in 2002 by Murat Karayalçın, former Ankara Metropolitan Mayor and Foreign Minister ....
, which is supported by some Kurds in the South-East of Turkey.
In January 2005, the AK Party was admitted as an observer member in the European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
(EPP), the conservative party of the EU. It is likely to become a full member of the EPP if Turkey is admitted to the EU.
2007 elections
On April 14, 2007, an estimated 300,000 people marched in AnkaraAnkara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
to protest the possible candidacy of Erdoğan in the 2007 presidential election
Turkish presidential election, 2007
The 2007 Turkish presidential election refers to two attempts to elect the country's 11th president, to succeed Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The most likely candidate for president was Abdullah Gül...
, afraid that if elected as President, he would alter the secular nature of the Turkish state. Erdoğan announced on April 24, 2007 that the party had decided to nominate Abdullah Gül as the AK Party candidate in the presidential election. The protests continued over the next several weeks, with over one million reported at an April 29 rally in Istanbul, tens of thousands reported at separate protests on May 4 in Manisa
Manisa
Manisa is a large city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of İzmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in...
and Çanakkale
Çanakkale
Çanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116 . The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan ....
, and one million in İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
on May 13.
Early parliamentary elections were called after the failure of the parties in parliament to agree on the next Turkish president. The opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary vote and deadlocked the election process. At the same time, Erdoğan claimed the failure to elect a president was a failure of the Turkish political system and proposed to modify the constitution.
The AK Party achieved victory in the rescheduled July 22, 2007 elections with 46.6% of the vote, translating into control of 341 of the 550 available parliamentary seats. Although the AK Party received significantly more votes in 2007 than in 2002, the number of parliamentary seats they controlled decreased due to the rules of the Turkish electoral system.
Politics of Turkey
Politics of Turkey takes place in a framework of a strictly secular parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Turkey is the head of government, and of a multi-party system...
However, they retained a comfortable ruling majority. "Don't Stop, Keep Going On!" was the slogan of the Justice and Development Party in the general elections of 2007.
Territorially, the elections of 2007 saw a major advance for the AK Party, with the party outpolling the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
Democratic Society Party
The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...
in traditional Kurdish strongholds such as Van
Van Province
Van Province is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at the end of 2010....
and Mardin
Mardin Province
Mardin Province is a province of Turkey with a population of 744,606. The population was 835,173 in 2000. The capital of the Mardin Province is Mardin...
, as well as outpolling the secular-left CHP in traditionally secular areas such as Antalya
Antalya Province
Antalya Province is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean sea.Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visiting Turkey. The province of Antalya corresponds to the lands of...
and Artvin
Artvin Province
Artvin Province is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the north-eastern corner of the country, on the border with Georgia.The provincial capital is the city of Artvin.-Geography:...
. Overall, the AK Party secured a plurality of votes in 68 of Turkey's 81 provinces, with its strongest vote of 71% coming from Bingöl
Bingöl Province
Bingöl Province is a province of Turkey in Eastern Anatolia. The province was created in 1946 out of parts of Elazığ and Erzincan. The new province was known as Çapakçur Province until 1950. Its neighbouring provinces are Tunceli, Erzurum, Muş, Diyarbakır, Erzincan and Elazığ. The province covers...
. Its weakest vote, a mere 12%, came from Tunceli
Tunceli Province
The Tunceli Province is a province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The province was named Dersim Province and was changed to Tunceli Province on January 4, 1936. with the "Law on Administration of the Tunceli Province" , no...
, the only Turkish province where the Alevi
Alevi
The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....
form a majority. Abdullah Gül was elected President in late August with 339 votes in the third round – the first at which a simple majority is required – after deadlock in the first two rounds, in which a two-thirds majority is needed.
2007 constitutional referendum
Ahmet Necdet Sezer
- External links :* , Presidency of the Republic of Turkey...
. Then he applied to the Turkish constitutional court about the reform package, because the president is unable to veto amendments for the second time. The court did not find any problems in the package and 69% of the voters supported the constitutional changes.
The reforms consisted of:
- electing the president by popular vote instead of by parliament;
- reducing the presidential term from seven years to five;
- allowing the president to stand for re-election for a second term;
- holding general elections every four years instead of five;
- reducing the quorum of lawmakers needed for parliamentary decisions from 367 to 184.
Closure cases
The Justice and Development Party has faced two closure cases in its history. Just 10 days before the national elections of 2002Turkish general election, 2002
Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...
, Turkey's chief prosecutor, Sabih Kanadoğlu, asked the Turkish constitutional court to close the Justice and Development Party, which was leading in the opinion polls at that time. The chief prosecutor accused the Justice and Development Party of abusing the law and justice. He based his case on the fact that the party's leader had been banned from political life. The European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
had already criticised Turkey for banning the party's leader from participating in elections.
The court gave its verdict on 9 July 2009, rejecting the demand, and the case against the AK Party was terminated.
At an international press conference in Spain, the prime minister answered a question of a journalist by saying, "What if the headscarf is a symbol? Even if it were a political symbol, does that give [one the] right to ban it? Could you bring prohibitions to symbols?" These statements led to a joint proposal of the AK Party and the MHP for changing the constitution and the law to lift a ban on young women wearing headscarves at universities. This was one of the main reasons for Turkey's chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, to ask the Constitutional Court to close the AK Party. A court-appointed rapporteur
Rapporteur
Rapporteur is used in international and European legal and political contexts to refer to a person appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue or a situation....
, Osman Can, advocated in his report that the Court should reject the closure case. Four members voted to cut public funding for the party, while the court's chairman voted against closing it down. The court rejected the demands of the prosecutor and did not ban the party. The European Union welcomed the decision by Turkey's highest court not to ban the ruling AK Party.
2009 local elections
The Turkish local elections of 2009 took place during the financial crisis of 2007–2010. After the success of the AK Party in the 2007 general elections, the party saw a decline in the local elections of 2009. In these elections the AK Party received 39% of the vote, 3% less than in the local elections of 2004. Still, the AK Party remained the dominating party in Turkey. The second party CHP received 23% of the vote and the third party MHP received 16% of the vote. The AK Party won in Turkey's largest cities: AnkaraAnkara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
and Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
.
2010 constitutional referendum
Reforming the Constitution was one of the main pledges of the AK Party during the 2007 election campaign. The main opposition party CHP was not interested in altering the Constitution on a big scale, making it impossible to form a Constitutional CommissionConstitutional Commission
Many entities have been called a Constitutional Commission with the general purpose of reviewing a constitution, or planning to create one.-Afghanistan:*Afghan Constitution Commission**Timeline of the War in Afghanistan...
(Anayasa Uzlaşma Komisyonu). The amendments lacked the two-thirds majority needed to instantly become law, but secured 336 votes in the 550 seat parliament - enough to put the proposals to a referendum. The reform package included a number of issues: such as the right of individuals to appeal to the highest court, the creation of the ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
’s office, the possibility to negotiate a nation-wide labour contract, positive exceptions for female citizens, the ability of civilian courts to convict members of the military, the right of civil servants to go on strike, a privacy law, and the structure of the Constitutional Court. The referendum was agreed by a majority of 58%.
Election results
General elections| Election date | Party leader | Number of votes received | Percentage of votes | Number of deputies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2002 Turkish general election, 2002 Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
10,763,904 | 34.26% | 363 |
| July 22, 2007 Turkish general election, 2007 Turkey's 16th general election was held on July 22, 2007 and resulted in a resounding victory for the incumbent Justice and Development Party... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
16,327,291 | 46.58% | 341 |
| June 12, 2011 Turkish general election, 2011 Turkey's 17th general election was held on 12 June 2011 to elect 550 new members of Grand National Assembly. They were Turkey's first non-early elections in 34 years.-Background:... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
21,442,206 | 49.90% | 326 |
Local elections
| Election date | Party leader | Provincial council votes | Percentage of votes | Number of municipalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 28, 2004 Turkish local elections, 2004 On March 28, 2004, Turks voted in nationwide municipal elections for the mayors of more than 3,000 cities and towns, as well as administrative council members for all eighty-one Turkish provinces.... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
13,447,287 | 42.18% | 1750 |
| March 29, 2009 Turkish local elections, 2009 Turkey held local elections on 29 March 2009. The overal winner was the ruling party Justice and Development Party, although the party saw a decline in its vote relative to the 2007 general election... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
15,513,554 | 38.83% | 1404 |
Referendums
| Election date | Party leader | Yes vote | Percentage | No vote | Percentage | AK Party's support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 21, 2007 Turkish constitutional referendum, 2007 A constitutional referendum on electoral reform took place in Turkey on 21 October 2007. After the aborted attempt to elect the next president in May 2007, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced substantial electoral reforms in parliament which were then passed with the votes of... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
19,422,714 | 68.95 | 8,744,947 | 31.05 | Yes vote |
| September 12, 2010 Turkish constitutional referendum, 2010 A constitutional referendum on a number of changes to the constitution was held in Turkey on 12 September 2010. The results showed the majority supported the constitutional amendments, with 58% in favour and 42% against. The changes were aimed at bringing the constitution into compliance with... |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara... |
21,787,244 | 57.88 | 15,856,79 | 42.12 | Yes vote |