The Justice and Development Party, abbreviated officially as AK Party in English, is a political party in Turkey self-describing as conservative-democratic. It has been the ruling party of Turkey since 2003. Third-party sources often refer to the party as national conservative, social conservative, right-wing populist and as espousing neo-Ottomanism. The party is generally regarded as being right-wing on the political spectrum, although some sources have described it as far-right since 2011. It is one of the two major parties of contemporary Turkey along with the Republican People's Party (CHP).
The Republic Protests took place in 2007 in support of the Kemalist reforms, particularly state secularism and democracy, against the perceived Islamization of Turkey under the ruling Justice and Development Party.
A rally of the Justice and Development Party in 2007
Picture of Erdoğan among other leaders at the European People's Party Congress in 2009
Image: Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ukraine
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey. He previously served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he co-founded in 2001. He also served as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998.
Party leader Erdoğan's meeting with Romano Prodi (President of the European Commission) and Günter Verheugen (European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement) in Brussels, Belgium, 2002
Prime Minister Erdoğan during a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, at the Office of the Prime Minister (Başbakanlık), in 2014