 by welcoming people who had previously taken their seats in parliament from the ranks of opposition parties, including a prominent constitutional law professor.){kind=link}
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reshaped the leadership of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) by welcoming people who had previously taken their seats in parliament from the ranks of opposition parties, including a prominent constitutional law professor.
The AKP held its eighth ordinary congress in Ankara on Sunday, drawing tens of thousands of supporters. Erdoğan was elected party leader for the ninth time. The AKP, founded in 2001, has ruled Turkey as a single-party government since first coming to power in 2002.
The congress saw the election of 39 new members to the party’s 75-member Central Executive Board (MYK), including seven lawmakers who were elected to parliament from other parties in the last general election in May 2023 but later joined the AKP.
Among them was constitutional law professor and MP Serap Yazıcı Özbudun, who announced her departure from the opposition Gelecek (Future) Party, founded by former AKP member and ex-prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, one day before the AKP congress.
Yazıcı’s decision to join the AKP surprised and disappointed many due to her past criticism of Erdoğan and his party, leading to speculation about her motivation.
In 2007, Yazıcı and her late husband, Professor Ergun Özbudun, were among a group of legal experts who drafted a civilian constitution for Turkey at the AKP’s request. The party later shelved its plans to replace the current constitution, which was drafted after the 1980 military coup.
Former İYİ (Good) Party lawmakers Salim Ensarioğlu and Ünal Karaman also joined the AKP during Sunday’s congress after resigning from their party. Erdoğan invited the three newcomers to the stage and personally pinned AKP badges on them.
With these additions, the AKP’s seats in parliament increased from 269 to 272. Small opposition parties, including the İYİ Party, the Gelecek Party and the New Welfare Party (YRP), have been losing lawmakers to the AKP in recent months although the party has been shedding public support as revealed by polls and the results of the local elections in March when the AKP sustained its worst election defeat since its establishment.
Kürşad Zorlu, a former İYİ Party lawmaker who joined the AKP, was also appointed to the MYK on Sunday. He had also been known as a vocal critic of the AKP.
Additionally, former German national team footballer Mesut Özil, who retired in 2023, was elected to the AKP’s executive board. A longtime Erdoğan supporter, Özil had the Turkish president as his best man in 2019 when he married former Miss Turkey Amine Gülse.
A photo of Özil and Erdoğan alongside former Germany teammate İlkay Gündoğan sparked controversy in Germany, with Berlin accusing Erdoğan of authoritarianism. Özil, once seen as a symbol of multicultural Germany, later quit the national team, citing racism within the German Football Association.
Erdoğan’s reshaping of his party’s administration comes amid an intensified crackdown on dissent and opposition figures in the country.
The government has targeted opposition figures, including İstanbul’s popular Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, as well as journalists, academics and even astrologers, in an effort to suppress criticism and consolidate power.
İmamoğlu, who is serving his second term as mayor of İstanbul, is seen as Erdoğan’s strongest rival if he decides to seek another term in the next presidential election, scheduled for 2028.