Turkey's ruling party goes to extraordinary congress

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

Turkey’s ruling party will hold an extraordinary congress on May 21 in the wake of last month’s historic approval of a raft of constitutional changes.

At the congress, the Justice and Development (AK) Party is due to choose a new chairman, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the only candidate standing.

Under the previous Constitution’s rules, Turkey’s president could not be a member of a political party. An April 16 public referendum overturned that rule.

Erdogan and current AK Party chairman and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim -- who campaigned for the changes, and is voluntarily stepping aside -- will address their party members at the congress. Their speeches will be broadcast live on all national TV channels.

At the congress, the party delegates will not only elect their leader but also the party's boards. Delegates will choose members of the Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK), Central Disciplinary Board (MDK), Intra-Party Democracy and Arbitration Board, and Political Virtue and Ethics Board.

Under Erdogan's leadership, the makeup of the various boards as well as top party posts are expected to extensively change hands ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections set for 2019.

Shortly after being elected president in August 2014, while handing the party reins to then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at an AK Party extraordinary congress, Erdogan bid farewell to party members but added he was leaving with “the hope of rejoining”.

Fourth president with party membership

Erdogan becomes the fourth president to retain his party ties. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, maintained his membership in the Republican People’s Party (CHP), as did his successor, Ismet Inonu.

Turkey’s third president, Celal Bayar, was also a member of the Democrat Party.

Turkish presidents maintained party ties until the country’s 1960 coup. The post-coup Constitution forced them to cut their links to political parties. The Constitution emerging from another coup, in 1980, maintained that tradition.

Erdogan led the AK Party for 13 years starting from its foundation in 2001 but had to step aside when he became president in August 2014, due to the legal requirement for presidents to be politically neutral.

When the party won the November 2002 election with two-thirds of the seats in parliament, it became the first party to win an outright majority in over a decade.

During his time as prime minister, Erdogan oversaw general elections in 2007 and 2011 in which the party returned to power with a greater share of the vote each time.

The party also performed well in local elections in 2004, 2009, and 2014, when it secured 18 out of 30 mayoral seats in larger cities.

When Erdogan stood for the presidency in 2014 he received 52 percent of the vote, and Davutoglu officially took charge of the party.

The June 2015 general election saw the party returned as the largest in parliament, but it failed to retain its overall majority, taking 258 of 550 seats. After talks to form a coalition floundered, a snap poll in November saw the AK Party returned with a majority of 317 seats.