Nationalist Action Party (MHP)

3.3 Justice and Development Party (AKP)

The leader of the AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was sentenced to four months in 1998⁴³, which kept him out of the office of Prime Minister for a few months in 2002 as convicts cannot be elected to Parliament. Hence Abdullah Gül was appointed prime minister in November 2002. He was regarded as caretaker prime minister until the constitution is amended, allowing Erdoğan to take his place. The AKP managed to reform the laws in January 2003 and hold a by-election to ensure Erdoğan’s membership in Parliament and thus his appointment to the office which happened in March 2002 (Ahmad 2003: 183; Aydın 2005: 204).

As some of the most important basic principles we can cite advocating the freedoms of religion and conscience, of thought and expression, of enterprise and the right to organize as indispensable principles on every platform, impartiality and full independence of the judiciary, the independence of the State, and the indivisible integrity of the country and nation, as a fundamental principle and the concept of principled, honest, ethical and steadfast politics. Among the principles in the main policies we can observe the conviction that the State should not be involved in any kind of economic activity, the economic function of the state is regulatory and supervisory, economic stability can be achieved by growth to be achieved by investments, support should be dedicated to investments that will increase employment (AKP program).

In the 2002 AKP won a landslide victory over all other parties, and with 34,3% of votes gained 363 of 550 seats. This enabled it to create the single party government, first since1987 and the most powerful government since the ten-year era of the populist Democrat Party in the 1950s (Parslow 2007: 37).

This phenomenal success of the AKP was not simply due to the power of its ideology but to a combination of factors. The most significant included the weaknesses of other political parties and the inability of the existing coalition government to stop the economic crisis, rising unemployment, high inflation and corruption and to provide a platform for true democracy. The voters decided to punish the three ruling parties with leaders who would never let go of the leadership regardless of how poor their election results (Aydın 2005: 205).

Keyman and Öniş assume that the AKP strategy for winning support from the various segments of Turkish society had three dimensions. First, AKP leaders such as the former Istanbul mayor Erdoğan distanced their party from the Islamist label and sought to appeal to the widest possible swath of voters by present as a center-right formation that was ready to face the urgent problems of the Turkish economy. Second after this emphasis on competence over ideology was a message of integrity and fairness. Third, AKP states that democracy constitutes the fundamental and effective basis for the long-term solution to Turkey’s problems and this emphasis on democracy continued as a major theme in the AKP’s discourse on the protection of individual rights and freedoms, as well as in its support for the additional internal reforms that will have to occur if Turkey is ever to accede to full EU membership (Keyman, Öniş 2007: 165-166).

According to the polls, the voters wanted a new leader and not a new party and Erdoğan fitted the bill. He was a new kind of leader who did not come out of the system as did most of his rivals. He was the symbol of the party and not its sole leader and he was being persecuted and prosecuted by the establishment (Ahmad 2003: 181).

In the following election in 2007 the AKP achieved again a broad victory and with 46.6% of the vote took under control 341 of the 550 available parliamentary seats.⁴⁴ 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.⁴⁵

AKP has the EU membership topic in its agenda since the party became the majority party in 2002 and then reaffirmed their commitment when they were re-elected. The plan of AK Party is to accomplish the candidacy requirements in maximum of ten years and then become a full member. In their program they mention EU in the foreign policy section and have also a separate section fort he relations with the EU. The party members stress that EU membership is not obligatory but voluntary and Turkey is committed to get the full membership. They assert that EU is a rich men’s club and when Turkey is admitted to the club, she will be one of them.

They also mention the Alliance of Civilizations that is founded by Turkey and Spain and expresses how Turkey functions as a bridge between civilizations and how she is faced towards the West but does not turn its back to the East. Their other argument is that Turkey has been doing reforms to have a better democracy, economics etc. They think that EU will be beneficial for Turkey in every aspect. The EU issue is presented in the government agenda as well.

In the election program of 2007 AKP talks about EU throughout its economic and social policy areas. They are committed to the goal of becoming a full member and therefore they make reforms in the economic, social and political areas according to the pre-accession agreement. The party mentions the need to reduce disparities among the regions of Turkey and also to increase competitiveness, increasing social welfare. They also state that they will work for better employment conditions by following the EU and International Labor Organization agreements.

Within the frame of the Central Executive Committee (CEC), which is the highest executive body of the Party and is composed of the Party chairman, deputy Party chairmen, the general secretary and the parliamentary group president and deputy group presidents, there is also position of Deputy Chairman in charge of foreign relations and foreign representative offices. This Chairman manages the foreign relations of the Party and provides the coordination between various institutions and organizations that are parts of the foreign policy-making process. In this framework, informs the government, the party group, local party bodies and the public about ongoing and planned policies. He/she establishes dialogue with other political parties, in the first instance with EU member countries, in neighboring countries and in countries having significant roles in regional and global policies; establishing and promoting bilateral or multilateral relations with them, conducts lobbying activities to introduce Turkey and the Party and to improve good impressions of both abroad.

The Deputy Chairman for foreign relations also provides the public with information about the foreign policies of the Party via the foreign and domestic press, and creates interflow of information between the Party and the public. Through promoting the atmosphere of cooperation and the mutual dialogue with civil society organizations, universities and other associations and institutes on the formation of the foreign policy opinions of the Party, creates the opportunity of evaluating their contributions in the decision-making process. The Deputy Chairman establishes foreign representation offices of the Justice and Development Party and/or forms organizational structures abroad (AKP: Organization). At the European level, the AK Party is an observer at European People’s Party.