The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) held its congress for its branch in the capital of Ankara with little fanfare on Tuesday. A hotel fire disaster that claimed 66 lives in northern Türkiye earlier on Tuesday overshadowed the event attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and senior figures of the party.
After expressing condolences to the fire victims’ families, Erdoğan cut short his speech at the congress where the current head of the AK Party’s Ankara branch, Hakan Han Özcan, was elected again.
“The AK Party was established on Aug. 14, 2001, as a political organization dedicated to serving this nation’s centuries-long quest for civilization. The founder, owner and protector of the AK Party is none other than our people themselves. We are a team that, in the name of our people and for the love of this sacred cause, has taken on this responsibility and carried it to the present day. We must exert efforts that match the gravity of the responsibility we bear. If we do not sincerely evaluate ourselves and take the necessary steps based on the results, we will only be deceiving ourselves. Since we view our congresses as a passing of the baton in a relay race, we must also lay out the roadmap from the past to the present,” Erdoğan said.
The party conducts the congress process with the motto of “next-generation politics.”
This “next-generation politics” is more visible with significant changes in cadres. About 75% of provincial chairs of the party were replaced, while more than half of district chairs handed over their duties to new names during the process, which began after last year’s municipal elections. The party’s Central Executive Committee and Central Decision Board (MKYK) is expected to have its fair share of changes, and at least half of its members are expected to be replaced. Erdoğan had earlier instructed his lieutenants to work on rejuvenation of the cadres. The number of younger members and women in administrative cadres has significantly increased in intraparty reshuffles since last year. The party also seeks to adhere to the rule of having at least 30% of cadres in provincial and district branches be composed of female members.
The AK Party became a staple of Turkish politics with its all-embracing politics when it was launched more than two decades ago. Voters who endorsed left-wing or right-wing parties of the yesteryear and were disillusioned with the tumultuous era of unstable coalition governments carried the party to its first victory. In the ensuing years, the party strengthened its ranks with new transfers, welcoming prominent politicians who were once its opponents, including several from its main rival, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Its ties with disadvantaged communities, as well as communities who were deprived of their rights by the past governments, such as Kurds, cemented the party’s place in politics.
“We owe not only gratitude to our people but also our very lives,” Erdoğan, who survived a 2016 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), said on Tuesday. “The works and services we have contributed to our country so far are not enough to repay this debt. We must do more, achieve better and create greater things. For this, we will work tirelessly, lose sleep and bear the heavy burdens on our shoulders. But we will never let any member of our nation feel downcast or disheartened. I expect you to work with this mindset,” he told fellow party members.
The congress, instead of cheerful songs that have been the highlight of other congresses, began with the recitation of the Quran for those who died in the hotel fire. Ministers Hakan Fidan and Murat Kurum, as well as former Prime Minister Binail Yıldırım attended the congress. Kürşad Zorlu, a lawmaker who recently resigned from the opposition Good Party (IP), formally joined the AK Party during the event.