What is the new re-election strategy for the AKP/CHP

Career diplomat Ya?ar Yak?? is one of the founding members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He became the foreign minister in the first AKP cabinet formed after the 2002 elections.

?When we were forming the party, we conducted several opinion polls. We realized during these polls that religious issues and mainly the headscarf issue was not a top priority among the electorate,? he once told me. 

Using the results of the polls, the AKP built its program on three Y?s: ?yolsuzluk? (corruption), ?yoksulluk? (poverty), ?yasaklar? (bans).

The AKP won the 2002 elections not because the electorate was attracted to its program. The AKP won because voters wanted to punish the mainstream parties they saw as mainly responsible for the 2000/2001 economic crisis.

But there is no doubt that it won the 2007 elections based on its performance.

In the first decade of AKP rule, the party?s elites refrained most of the time from using religious references.
Its self-confidence gained following the 2010 referendum and the third election victory in 2011 unleashed the urge for an Islamic agenda. 

This urge peaked during the campaign rallies for the June 7 elections, when President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an appeared on stage holding a copy of Quran in his hand.

Addressing crowds in Batman and Siirt, Erdo?an showed a copy of the Kurdish-language Quran as he lashed out at the pro-Kurdish People?s Democracy Party (HDP). ?They have nothing to do with religion. Look, the Religious Affairs Directorate, which they want to shut down, has printed the Quran in Kurdish for you,? he said.

Using the holy book has not created the desired outcome. Conservative Kurds who might have been previously attracted to the AKP?s...