Erdogan rejoins Turkey’s ruling AK party
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejoined the Justice and Development (AK) Party, the country’s ruling party, after a 33 month hiatus, Hurriyet reported. Erdogan signed his membership declaration during a special ceremony in Ankara on May 2.
He was greeted by both the current and former Prime ministers Binali Yildirimn and Ahmet Davutoglu.
Remarkably, former president Abdullah Gul and the former PM Bulent Arinc, who is considered one of the founders of the party, were not present at the event. Erdogan will once again assume the chairmanship of the party at an extraordinary congress on May 21.
The previous constitution of the country prohibited any party affiliation for the president, however under the recent constitutional changes the ban is lifted.
