Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will open 10 representative offices abroad amid aims to explain party politics and forge closer relations with the Turkish diaspora. During the AK Party's latest Central Executive Committee and Central Decision Board (MKYK) meeting, which was led by the AK Party Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the representative offices abroad were also discussed.The AK Party has been working on opening more than 30 new representative offices in the U.S., European countries, the Turkic Republics, Africa and the Balkans. During the MKYK meeting, it was said that in the first phase of these efforts, the missions will be opened in 10 locations and the relevant works regarding this have been completed. It was also stated that in some places, recruitment searches will commence.

The AK Party opened its first representative office in Brussels in 2015, and plans to open additional representative offices in the U.S. as well as in European countries. The second representative office is planned to open in Germany which has a large population of Turkish nationals.

The offices are expected to be essential in enhancing relations between the AK Party and Turkish expatriates and will play an active role in preventing the promotion of Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) campaigns against Turkey. The offices will be responsible for the organizations abroad.Meanwhile, intraparty sources said that the AK Party is currently working to determine the proper candidates to be assigned to the representative offices. Party officials plan to nominate people who have a high reputation in the countries they will represent. They will also nominate people who can effectively convey Turkey's point of view accurately. The AK Party works carefully to prevent FETÖ-affiliated people from being nominated through infiltration.