24.02.2025 10:30
President Erdoğan made a 51% change in the 75-member Central Decision-Making and Administrative Board (MKYK), which is the largest decision-making body at the congress. The MKYK list, which saw 39 members change, also included names that transitioned from the İYİ Party and the Future Party to the AK Party. It was noteworthy that the President skipped the section of his speech related to foreign policy, which included messages about Gaza, Syria, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The 8th Ordinary Grand Congress of the AK Party was held yesterday at the Ankara Sports Hall. In the congress, where 1547 of the 1607 registered delegates voted, Erdoğan was re-elected as the party leader by receiving all the votes cast. The real excitement at the congress was about the main decision-making body of the party, the MKYK, as well as the full and substitute memberships of the Central Disciplinary Board, the Party Internal Democracy Arbitration Board, and the Political Virtue and Ethics Board.
39 NAME CHANGES
While Erdoğan carried over 36 names he appointed in the previous MKYK to the new MKYK, 39 names changed. Erdoğan included 17 of the 18 members of the party's A Team in the MKYK, leaving only the Administrative and Financial Affairs Chairman Vedat Demiröz off the list because he will head the Confidential Fund. The new member of the MKYK, former Deputy Minister of Health Ahmet Baha Öğütken, took the seat vacated by Demiröz.
INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF MPs IN THE MKYK
To strengthen the bond between party policies and the parliamentary group, Erdoğan increased the number of MPs in the MKYK. In the previous congress, Erdoğan included 13 MPs in the MKYK; nine of them became MYK members. In yesterday's congress, 29 of the current full members were MPs.
TRANSFERS ENTERED THE LIST
In yesterday's congress, Antalya MP Serap Yazıcı Özbudun, who resigned from the Future Party, and Ünal Karaman, who resigned from the Good Party, joined the AK Party, and both names entered the MKYK. In the new MKYK of the AK Party, Dursun Ataş, İdris Nebi Hatipoğlu, Kürşad Zorlu, and Seyithan İzsiz, who were transferred from the Good Party in the previous term, as well as Nedim Yamalı, who joined the AK Party after resigning from the Future Party, were included. Additionally, Suat Pamukçu, who resigned from the Welfare Party, where he served as Secretary General in 2024, joined the AK Party and was elected as a member of the Party Internal Democracy Arbitration Board. In yesterday's congress, Ayşe Keşir and Eyyüp Kadir İnan, who recently bid farewell to the presidency in the General Center Women's and Youth Branch Congresses, also entered the MKYK.
MIROĞLU LEFT OFF THE LIST
Orhan Miroğlu, who drew attention with his criticisms of the party in recent times, was left off the list in the AK Party. In the new list, former Minister of Transport Ahmet Arslan, former Women's Branch President Lütfiye Selva Çam, and former referee Kuddusi Müftüoğlu also could not find a place for themselves.
SECTION ERDOĞAN SKIPPED IN HIS SPEECH
President Erdoğan, who did not allow the enthusiasm in the hall to drop for a moment with his oratory skills, notably skipped the section regarding foreign policy in his speech. In the section Erdoğan skipped, there were messages regarding Gaza, Syria, and the Russia-Ukraine war, with the words, "We will take our place as a pole in the new world in the strongest way."
FORMER MAYORS
Economist Abdülkadir Develi, former General Manager of the Credit Guarantee Fund İsmet Gergerli, and academician Zakir Avşar, President of the Turkey Wushu Kung Fu Federation Abdurrahman Akyüz, MUSIAD Vice President Cihad Terzioğlu, TÜRGEV Board Member Fatih Sadullah Selman, and Selçuk Sümer, one of the deputy heads of the Information and Communication Technologies Presidency, succeeded in entering the MKYK list for the first time. The names of former Beyoğlu Mayor Haydar Ali Yıldız and former Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen also drew attention on the list. Of the 75 full members of the MKYK, 17 were women. The new list saw a decrease in the representation of women; the number of female members dropped to 12.
HAYATİ YAZICI BROKE HIS OWN RECORD
Hayati Yazıcı, the only name to have served in all MKYKs since the establishment of the AK Party, renewed his own record by successfully entering the MKYK once again. Additionally, Çiğdem Karaaslan, the President of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, who was the youngest member elected to the MKYK in the AK Party's 2nd Ordinary Grand Congress in 2006, had entered the MKYK in all congresses held since then. Karaaslan also found a place for herself in the new MKYK.
SECOND GENERATION
In the new MKYK of the AK Party, Ahmet Mücahit Arınç, the son of former TBMM President Bülent Arınç, was included for the third consecutive time. Erdoğan included Osman Gökçek, the son of Melih Gökçek, who served as the Mayor of Ankara for 25 years, and Derya Ayaydın, the daughter of Aydın Ayaydın, who was a candidate for the Mayor of Muğla in the last local elections, in the new MKYK, while Ömer Faruk Besli, the son of former Istanbul MP Hüseyin Besli, and Umut Tuncer, the son of famous artist Mahmut Tuncer, also retained their places in the MKYK.
TRANSFERS FROM THE GREEN FIELDS
Football player Mesut Özil was among the notable names on the MKYK list. After the 2018 elections, Özil took a photo with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and had made a supportive post for Erdoğan on his social media account before the second round of the 2023 presidential elections.