The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is getting ready for an ordinary convention on Aug. 18, in which they plan on making changes to the party administration including granting more positions for women and youth.
Speaking to NTV yesterday, AK Party Deputy Chairman Hayati Yazıcı said that there will be certain changes with some additions to the cadre of the party administration.
"In the upcoming convention, there will be the election of the party boards. There will be additions to the boards and change," he further stated, adding there has always been change at every convention held by the party.
Yazıcı also expressed that they will make an effort to spare more positions for the women and youth in the party administration.
"We will change five or six articles that contradict with each other. There will also be a technical correction. We are removing the coalition department and adding an alliance regulation to the party code," he said. "We are a very young party. However, despite being young, we have been administrating the country for 16 years."
Yazıcı highlighted that the institutional structure is quite strong and the local organizations constitute the backbone of the party.
"We conduct the convention process with the utmost care," he added, while indicating that the conventions are far from being sloppy work for the party.
"In our party, an election period ends and the preparations for the next one begins," he said, referring to the party's preparations for the upcoming local elections.
Yazıcı expressed that they are already examining all the party organizations to evaluate their performances.
Turkish media reported in June that the AK Party will hold a camp in the Kızılcahamam district of the capital Ankara on Aug. 10-12 to evaluate the results from the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections. There they will analyze their mistakes to avoid repeating them in the March 2019 local elections.
Evaluations made by provincial administrations will be discussed at the camp. The effects of the election campaigns and the rhetoric of the AK Party conducted during the election process will also be assessed. The analyses will help the party draw up a road map for the upcoming local elections. The camp will also seek to create an environment for discussion concerning election strategies to be implemented.
On Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signaled that the conventions of AK Party will mark the starting point of preparations for the local elections.
