Former President Abdullah Gül and ex-Foreign Minister Yaşar Yakış, who are both founders of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), were removed from the list of founders after they recently leveled criticism against both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the party over what they called Turkey's current misguided domestic and foreign policy.
On Monday, the news portal haberdar.com published a photo of the list, which it claimed to have taken in 2011, showing Gül's name and photo to be featured among the founders. On the current list that appears on the AK Party's official website, his name has been removed.
Hence, the political division between the current AK Party administration and its founders has become more apparent and public.
In addition to Gül and Yakış, two more AK Party founders, Nur Doğan Topaloğlu and Yasemin Kumral, were also removed from the list. The unknown name Ceyhun Yasemin Şimşek was included on the recent list of the party's founders, but instead of a photo of Şimşek in the allocated place, the AK Party logo is seen there instead.
The total number of founders was listed as 64 prior to the latest change, where now it stands at 61.
This move came after both Gül and Yakış recently complained about the course of events in Turkish politics dominated by Erdoğan and the AK Party government.
There are rumors circulating in Ankara that some former leading AK Party figures, including former Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, ex-Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik and ex-Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, may join forces to form a new political party under the leadership of Gül.
Furthermore, these figures were reported to have recently rented offices in Hamamönü, a historic site in the capital of Ankara, for the purpose of pursuing the work for the forming of a new political party.
The AK Party also recently referred Yakış to the party's disciplinary board for expulsion. The AK Party wants to expel Yakış from the party for his “behavior that does not befit the AK Party's principles.”
In a recent interview with Today's Zaman, Yakış said the AK Party, which came to power in 2002 promising a swathe of reforms and progress in fundamental areas such as human rights, freedom of press and judicial independence, has strayed far from its founding ideals.
