The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is convening its much-anticipated ordinary congress on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at Ankara Arena sports hall in the Turkish capital.
The AK Party wants to turn the convention into a major show of solidarity among the party rank and file while trying to lure as many as 80 foreign dignitaries, including Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Massoud Barzani and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
The congress will be translated into English, French, Russian, Portuguese and Arabic for foreign participants and it will be aired live outside the sports hall on a large television screen for those who cannot get in. Turkish TV channels will also broadcast the congress live for Turkish citizens.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the AK Party, will run for the party leadership for the last time, having reached the limit stipulated in the party’s bylaws.
Erdoğan gave the green light for the extensive overhaul of the AK Party administration in July when addressing participants at a provincial congress of his party in Eskişehir. He said the AK Party would be restructured after the party congress on Sept. 30 in order to prepare for the party’s policies for 2023, the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the republic.
(Today’s Zaman)
