Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is marking 25 years on the country’s political scene.

Its record has been unmatched since the beginning of the country’s multiparty era in 1946.

On Aug. 14, 2001, the AK Party was founded as Türkiye’s 39th political party, under the “Virtuous People Movement” led by Erdogan, who was then mayor of Istanbul.

“From today onward, nothing will be the same in Türkiye,” Erdogan said at the launch event.

Years later, historians would describe the moment as the beginning of a new era in Turkish politics.

Erdogan was unanimously elected chairman at the AK Party’s Founders’ Board meeting on Aug. 16. The party’s political journey began, eventually producing four prime ministers and two presidents through a series of electoral victories.

Just 15 months after its establishment, the AK Party contested the Nov. 3, 2002, general elections under the slogan “Alone in power, ready to work.”

With Erdogan unable to run due to a political ban, the party won 34.28% of the vote and emerged as the largest party, leading to the formation of the 58th government, headed by Abdullah Gul.

Political path cleared

After an amendment to Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code lifted his political ban, then-party chairman Erdogan was elected as a lawmaker in the March 9, 2003 by-election in Siirt, entering the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye.

Following the resignation of the government led by Gul, Erdogan was tasked by then-President Ahmet Necdet Sezer with forming a government. He established the 59th government on March 15, 2003, becoming prime minister.

New elections, new victories

The AK Party faced its first electoral test under Erdogan’s premiership in the 2004 local elections.

Winning 41.7% of the vote, the party emerged as the largest party and took control of 1,750 municipalities, including 12 metropolitan municipalities.

The AK Party increased its vote share to 46.58% in the 2007 general elections, retaining its single-party government, and also received the highest share of the vote in the 2009 local elections.

Closure case against ruling party

An indictment by then-Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, seeking the closure of the AK Party and a five-year political ban on 71 people, including Gul and Erdogan, was submitted to the Constitutional Court on March 14, 2008.

The court’s acceptance of the indictment on March 31, 2008, marked the beginning of a new process for the AK Party.

The case, based on an indictment that came to be known in political history as the “Google indictment,” was concluded on July 30, 2008.

Six members of the court voted in favor of closing the party, while five voted against. However, the required qualified majority was not reached as required by the Constitution, and the closure case was rejected.

2010 referendum

One of AK Party’s major political tests came with the 2010 referendum on constitutional amendments, held on the 30th anniversary of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup.

The amendments were approved with 57.88% of the vote.

The AK Party secured 49.83% in the 2011 general elections and 45.54% in the 2014 local elections, winning 818 mayoralties, including 18 metropolitan municipalities.

First president elected by popular vote

Following the end of Gul’s term, Erdogan was elected on Aug. 10, 2014, with 51.79% of the vote, becoming Türkiye’s first president elected directly by popular vote and the country’s 12th president.

Following Erdogan’s election as president, Ahmet Davutoglu, a lawmaker from the central Konya province, assumed the AK Party chairmanship.

Under Davutoglu’s leadership, the AK Party faced its first electoral test in the June 7, 2015 general elections and subsequently in the Nov. 1 snap elections, when it regained a single-party majority.

At the AK Party’s second Extraordinary Congress on May 22, 2016, Binali Yildirim, one of the party’s founders, was elected chairman. Yildirim subsequently formed the 65th government and became prime minister.

July 15 coup attempt and birth of People’s Alliance

The July 15, 2016 coup attempt by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), one of the bloodiest coup attempts in Türkiye’s history, was thwarted after citizens responded to Erdogan’s call to gather in city squares and airports and stood against tanks to defend democracy.

The solidarity between the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) following the coup attempt laid the foundations for the People’s Alliance.

The AK Party took another major political step with the April 16, 2017 constitutional referendum.

The groundwork for the referendum was laid on Dec. 10, 2016, when a constitutional amendment proposal signed by 316 AK Party lawmakers, including then-Prime Minister Yildirim, was submitted to the Grand National Assembly.

Following parliamentary votes on the articles, Erdogan approved the constitutional amendment law on Feb. 10, 2017, and sent it to the prime minister’s office for publication and submission to a referendum.

The referendum passed with 51.41% voting “yes” and 48.59% voting “no.” The provision stating that “the president-elect shall sever ties with his party” was removed from the Constitution, paving the way for Erdogan to retain party membership. Voters also approved the transition to the Presidential Government System.

Following the referendum, Erdogan returned to the AK Party after 979 days, signing a membership declaration and rejoining the party.

At the party’s third Extraordinary Grand Congress on May 21, 2017, held following a decision to convene an extraordinary congress, Erdogan was unanimously re-elected as AK Party chairman, receiving all 1,414 valid votes, 998 days after leaving the post.