President Erdoğan becomes AK Party chairman after 998 days

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday returned as chairman of Turkey's governing party in a special congress, a key change agreed in the April referendum that approved a host of constitutional changes.

Erdoğan rejoined the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on May 2 after the public approved changes to create an executive presidency in the referendum on April 16.

President Erdoğan was reappointed as the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), at a special party congress in the capital Ankara. He was the only candidate for the position at the party, of which he is a co-founder. He received 1,414 votes of the 1,470 eligible delegates.

Under the old constitution, the head of state had to sever ties with their political party and Erdoğan left as AK Party chairman in August 2014 after his election as president.

Rejoining the AK Party was the first major change permitted after the vote, allowing the president to be affiliated with a political party almost immediately.

Less than three years after giving up the post, a revised Constitution passed in last month's public referendum gave Erdoğan the chance to return to the party helm at an extraordinary party congress in the capital Ankara.

The new Constitution restores to presidents the right to belong to a political party, a right enjoyed by Turkey's first three presidents, including republic founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

At the congress, the party delegates not only elected their leader but also members of the party's boards: the Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK), Central Disciplinary Board (MDK), Intra-Party Democracy and Arbitration Board, and Political Virtue and Ethics Board.

Some articles in the party bylaws were also changed. One change paved the way for Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım -- who bowed out as party chairman, making way for Erdoğan -- to serve as acting chairman, representing Erdoğan in day-to-day party matters.

The principle of "one nation, one country, one government, one flag" was also added to the AK Party's bylaws.

The party delegates also gave the MKYK the power to form and dissolve the party's ground-level organizations.

In another change to the bylaws, deputies are still limited to serving three terms in parliament, but now the MKYK is allowed to make exceptions to this rule.

Thousands of AK Party supporters filled the Ankara arena sports complex as Erdoğan attended his first major party event since 2014.

Erdoğan can decide the party's direction as it prepares for March 2019 local elections and then simultaneous legislative and presidential elections in November that year.
FOURTH PRESIDENT TO RETAIN PARTY TIES
Erdoğan becomes the fourth president to retain his party ties. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, maintained his membership in the Republican People's Party (CHP), as did his successor, Ismet Inönü.

Turkey's third president, Celal Bayar, was also a member of the Democrat Party.

Turkish presidents maintained party ties until the country's 1960 coup. The post-coup Constitution forced them to cut their links to political parties. The Constitution emerging from another coup, in 1980, maintained that tradition.

Erdoğan led the AK Party for 13 years starting from its foundation in 2001 but had to step aside when he was elected as president in August 2014, due to the legal requirement for presidents to be politically neutral.

Erdoğan won with 51.4 percent of the vote but most of the new system will not come into force until November 3, 2019.
YILDIRIM TO BE GIVEN "VICE-CHAIRMAN'S" ROLE
Current party leader and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım will be given a newly-created role of "vice chairman", AK Party deputy chairman Hayati Yazici said on Saturday.

Erdoğan led the party for three terms during his premiership between 2003 and 2014, after he co-founded it in 2001.

After becoming a party member again in an emotional grand ceremony in Ankara, Erdoğan said he had "returned to my home, my passion, my love".
'TOGETHER AGAIN'
Thousands of supporters from all corners of Turkey crammed into the Ankara sports arena gave Erdoğan a reception as he attended his first major party event since 2014.

The president threw flowers into the crowds while his personal song by the Turkish pop star Uğur Işılak boomed from the speakers.

"We are together again after three years," Erdoğan said in his candidate speech, a formality given he has no rival in the contest.

"Our hearts were not divided... we lived as one heart. After a full 998 days, we are in the same hall. Where are we going, we ask? We are making a new start."
'SERIOUS RENEWAL'
Rejoining the AK Party was the first major change permitted after the referendum, which Erdoğan won with 51.4 percent of the vote.

Most measures under the new system, including axing the role of premier and giving the president the power to appoint ministers, will not come into force until elections on November 3, 2019.

Yıldırım, who is staying on as prime minister, will be given a newly-created role of vice chairman, AK Party deputy chairman Hayati Yazici said on Saturday.

Erdoğan led the party for three terms during his premiership between 2003 and 2014, helping build the AK Party into an all-conquering election machine that has yet to be defeated at the ballot box.

A special congress slogan read "a new breakthrough period: democracy, transformation, reform", hinting at a restructuring of the government as well as changes to the party's executive in the coming weeks and months.

"By the end of this year, all our institutions will have a serious renewal," Erdoğan said in his speech.