Justice and Development Party

The Justice and Development Party, commonly called AKP, is a Turkish political party founded in 2001. It has governed Turkey since 2002, under leaders including Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: A Turkish politician who has served as president since 2014 and led the AKP for much of its history. He became the party’s founding leader and its defining national figure.
Turkish parliamentary system: The system of government Turkey used before adopting an executive presidency in 2018. The AKP governed for years through this system before altering the executive structure.
Democratic backsliding in Turkey: The weakening of democratic checks, political pluralism, and civil liberties in Turkey over time. Critics connect this decline to the AKP government’s concentration of power and restrictions on dissent.
Republican People's Party: A Turkish social-democratic and secularist political party founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. It is the AKP’s principal electoral rival and represents a contrasting secularist tradition.
Abdullah Gül: A Turkish politician who served as president from 2007 to 2014 and was an AKP co-founder. His presidency marked the party’s first successful transition into Turkey’s highest office.
Turkish presidential system: Turkey’s system of government, established in 2018, concentrates executive authority in the elected president. The party backed the constitutional change that shifted executive power toward Erdoğan.
Ergenekon trials: A series of Turkish prosecutions beginning in 2008 alleging a clandestine network planned to overthrow the government. The trials weakened military influence early in AKP rule but were later criticized for fabricated evidence.
Nationalist Movement Party: A Turkish nationalist political party founded in 1969 and commonly known by the acronym MHP. Its alliance with the AKP reshaped parliamentary politics and supported Erdoğan’s presidential system.
Virtue Party: A Turkish Islamist political party founded in 1997 and closed by the Constitutional Court in 2001. Its closure preceded the split that produced the AKP and the Felicity Party.
Turkish constitutional referendum, 2017: A 2017 referendum that narrowly approved constitutional amendments establishing an executive presidency in Turkey. The AKP and its ally campaigned for the amendments that transformed the governing system.

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