, which supported President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential election last year, has said his party will never ally with Erdoğan again, accusing Erdoğan’s party of driving people away from religion, the T24 news website reported.){kind=link}
Fatih Erbakan, leader of the Islamist New Welfare Party (YRP), which supported President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential election last year, has said his party will never ally with Erdoğan again, accusing Erdoğan’s party of driving people away from religion, the T24 news website reported.
In the run-up to the May 2023 general election, the YRP joined a bloc of parties known as the Public Alliance that backed Erdoğan against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the then-leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Erdoğan defeated Kılıçdaroğlu in a runoff, securing yet another term as head of state.
Erbakan, the son of former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, told T24 in an exclusive interview that the YRP supported Erdoğan’s presidential candidacy due to pressure from its conservative base, which was concerned about the election of a president from the CHP, a party that had offended pious Muslims with its policies in the past.
Erbakan said the YRP extended an “olive branch” to Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) by allying with them but later had to part ways because the AKP disappointed them by pursuing the same policies after the elections despite warnings from the YRP.
He said let alone failing to honor the promises made in an agreement with the YRP, the AKP government has been pursuing the opposite policies since the elections, which have resulted in more poverty due to constantly increasing prices and taxes.
“In such a situation, it was impossible for us to support them any longer. We’re going it alone now,” Erbakan said, ruling out the possibility of another alliance with the party.
Erbakan frequently criticizes the AKP for its economic policies, which result in an ever-increasing cost of living and inflation of more than 50 percent.
The YRP refused to ally with the AKP in the March 31 local elections and fielded its own candidates.
The YRP drew Erdoğan’s ire when the party emerged as the third most successful party in the local elections, taking over some municipalities from the AKP, while the AKP suffered its worst election defeat since its establishment and came in second. The CHP had the most victories in the local elections.
According to Erbakan, the policies of the AKP are responsible for young people’s distancing themselves from Islam because although the AKP government claims to be supporting Islamic values, they do not act in line with them.
He said when young people see politicians who claim to be pious Muslims but are not honest, waste public money and get involved in tender rigging, this has a negative impact on young people’s perception of religion, causing even the students of religious imam-hatip schools to embrace deism or atheism.
In Erbakan’s view, Erdoğan is exhausted and Turkey needs a change of leader, and therefore elections should be held earlier.
The next general election is scheduled for 2028.
Erbakan said Turkey should hold early elections either in autumn 2025 or spring 2026, saying that neither the Turkish people nor the AKP government can wait for 2028.