Justice and Development (Turk. Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi or AKP; also Ak Parti, White Party or Pure Party), the ruling political party in the Republic of Turkey since 2002, has roots in the Islamist parties of the 1990s and earlier (most recently, the Welfare Party, Tur. Refah Partisi). It was one of the two successors to the Virtue Party, which was banned in 2001, and whose founder, Necmettin Erbakan, was one of the leaders of political Islam in Turkey and briefly the prime minister (1996–97).

The AKP came to power in November 2002. Having won a majority in the parliamentary e…