AKP sets regular congress for Feb 28

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will hold its next regular congress on Feb. 28, according to media reports.

The process began on Sept. 3 and includes a series of preparatory events, including the youth and women's branch congresses, scheduled before the main event.

Neighborhood, town and district congresses are slated to conclude by early December, paving the way for provincial congresses. The first provincial congress will be held on Nov. 30 in the southern city of Kahramanmaraş, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expected to attend.

The gatherings in major cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, are likely to include changes in key staff positions, daily Hürriyet reported on Nov. 24.

The AKP held an extraordinary congress held in October 2023, during which Erdoğan was reelected as the party's leader.

It also saw a significant reshuffle in the AKP's central decision-making body, with 49 members losing their positions and 26 incumbents retaining theirs.

Notably absent from the new management list were figures such as Binali Yıldırım, Nurettin Canikli, Jülide Sarıeroğlu and Mehmet Ali Zengin.

The party has also begun the process of updating its bylaws under the instructions of Erdoğan, the daily Hürriyet said last month.

A committee was expected to be established in the coming days to carry out the revisions, with possible adjustments to the party's founding values, sources within the AKP told the newspaper.