Erdoğan gets re-elected as ruling AKP leader, overhauls party’s executive board

Duvar English

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Oct. 7 re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as party leader, who received all 1399 valid votes at the 4th Extraordinary Grand Congress of AKP.

Speaking after the voting, Erdoğan said they need to re-assume the mayorships especially in Istanbul, Ankara in the 2024 local elections, in which they lost to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the previous election. 

“It is our duty to bring real municipalism to our provinces, which have been left to neglect, lack of service, and decay in the hands of the CHP mentality,” Erdoğan added. 

Erdoğan has been AKP’s leader since its foundation in 2001, except in between 2014 and 2017.

Erdoğan also renewed AKP’s executive brass following the congress. He elected 75 members of the Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK), with 48 changes made to the body.

Erdoğan excluded former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, AKP Economic Affairs head Nurettin Canikli, and former Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop from the new MKYK. 

Erdoğan also elected 18 members of the Central Executive Board (MYK), referred to as the party's A-team, with four changes made to the body as Yıldırım and Canikli lost their spots.

Some AKP figures, such as former Ağrı Mayor Savcı Sayan and former deputy Şamil Tayyar, criticized the appointment of new MKYK members after not being included in the body. 

“Those who think that our President's greatness is their own shadow present their post-Erdoğan calculations under the label of 'change.' This faction, which triggers corruption, rots the AKP from within,” Tayyar said in a tweet on Oct. 8.