The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Central Executive Committee (MYK) Thursday served notices to former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and former Deputies Selçuk Özdağ, Ayhan Sefer Üstün and Abdullah Başçı.

They were earlier referred to the party disciplinary board for contradicting the party's general principles.

After the party decided unanimously to discharge the individuals in question, it served the notices and referred them to the Central Disciplinary Court.

The court will take their written statements and hear their verbal defenses on Sept. 5. Head of the AK Party Disciplinary Board, Ahmet Aydın said the notices were sent out in the evening. They detailed the justifications in light of AK Party's internal regulations.

These included "acting against the party's general principles" and "making announcements that offend the party in public."

Davutoğlu's criticisms of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and similar defamations by the deputies were included in the notice.

The former prime minister is reportedly preparing to form a new party. He outspoken about the government in his recent interviews and hoped to convince some AK Party figures to jump ship.