Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Turkiye's Ruling AKP Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Nationwide Events

bta.bg · 6h · first reportShare

Grand celebrations are planned across Turkiye today, August 14, to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the country's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). At a rally in the capital Ankara, Turkish President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to outline the party's vision before more than 150,000 people, including foreign guests. Since coming to power in 2002, the AKP has remained Turkiye's governing political force, with an entire generation growing up under its rule. The party was founded on August 14, 2001, by Erdogan, who at the time had the aura of a legendary mayor of Istanbul and a political martyr (in 1998, he was convicted for reciting an Islamist poem), together with other well-known figures in Turkish politics: Bulent Arinc, Abdullah Gul and Abdullatif Sener. Under Erdogan's leadership, the party has set an unmatched record since the beginning of Turkiye's multi-party era in 1946, winning every general election it has contested since its founding i