After lengthy talks with the People’s Alliance led by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the New Welfare Party (YRP) on Monday announced that they would not join any alliance for May 14 elections.
The party’s leader, Fatih Erbakan, announced their decision at a news conference outside his party’s headquarters in the capital Ankara. He also announced that he will be a presidential candidate for the elections.
The AK Party, which has formed the People’s Alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Great Unity Party (BBP) reached out to the YRP as well as the Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) for a possible alliance in the presidential and parliamentary elections earlier. HÜDA-PAR remains undecided.
A call by the YRP for amending the law sparked criticism as the AK Party is engaged in alliance talks with the smaller opposition party. However, the minister in charge of overseeing the implementation of the law stressed that even a debate on the existence of the law is “unacceptable.” Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık tweeted on Monday that Article 6284 for Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Towards Women was one of the most important legal regulations the government implemented against violence targeting women. The YRP views the law as unfair to men. The party says that under the law, only women’s testimony is eligible before the court in cases of domestic violence and even if the spouses agree to reconcile, public lawsuits against male spouses continue and men were exposed to longer restraining orders. The party also pledges to limit the lengthy periods of mandatory alimonies for male spouses after divorces.
The party has also opposed the Istanbul Convention on women's rights, the world's first binding treaty to prevent and combat violence against women, which Türkiye withdrew from in 2021 because it already has strong laws in place to ensure women's rights and prevention of violence.
Fatih Erbakan is the son of late Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, whose now-defunct Welfare Party (RP) dominated Turkish politics in the 1990s, before falling victim to the Feb. 28 coup that targeted conservative voters the RP garnered support from. Erbakan’s political movement changed names over the years amid political bans and spawned several parties, including the AK Party whose founders were closest to Erbakan, while the Saadet Party (Felicity Party), currently aligned with the opposition bloc's “table for six,” also claims the legacy of Erbakan.
