The Justice and Development Party (AKP), which accustomed Turkey to tumultuous celebrations of any occasion it could think of, including to show respect for those killed in last month’s coup attempt, opted for a low-key observance to mark the 15th anniversary of its founding Aug. 14. The AKP came to power only 15 months after its establishment and has been the sole ruling party for 14 years. Has the party been successful?
To many, it might seem superfluous to ask such a question about a party that has won 12 consecutive elections. Also, let's not forget, Turkey's gross domestic product has increased threefold. Thousands of kilometers of highways, hundreds of schools and hundreds of thousands of dwellings have been built. Accession negotiations began with the European Union, the military’s political power was curtailed, and important advances were made in human rights and freedom of expression. The party also experienced a number of disturbing episodes during its years in power.
When the AKP first won power, in 2002, the party leader at the time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was legally banned from politics. In 2007, just before Abdullah Gul was elected Turkey's first AKP president, the military issued a warning to the party on its website. A year later, the AKP was confronted with a court case seeking to close it down. In 2012, the public prosecutor summoned the chief of national intelligence, Hakan Fidan, to account for secret contacts with the Kurdistan Workers Party. Protests that began at Gezi Park in Istanbul spread to 80 cities in 2013. That same year in December, allegations of corruption surfaced, with 25 graft probes resulting in the resignation of four government ministers.
The question of whether the AKP has been successful, however, is not how it has dealt with tough issues in the past, but what the picture is today. To free prison space for the tens of thousands of people detained after the failed coup, the government is releasing convicted criminals before their sentences are complete. Thousands of judges, scores of journalists, academics and businessmen have been jailed. Torture has made a comeback, and EU membership appears a distant dream.
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