The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) weighed in on ongoing dialogue with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in a recent meeting of its central executive committee.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked the party’s top cadre about their opinion on the dialogue and found they favored it. Erdoğan, however, warned the party officials to counter any criticism of the People’s Alliance the party has with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), according to a report by Sabah newspaper.

The "normalization" process between the government and the opposition, which started with the landmark meeting of Erdoğan and CHP leader Özgür Özel following the March 31 elections, moved forward with more meetings. Erdoğan and Özel met a second time recently, this time Erdoğan visiting CHP headquarters. Later, shadow ministers of the CHP held talks with their counterparts in the government, from the foreign minister to interior minister.

Erdoğan’s meeting with Özel was a milestone in Turkish politics as the two politicians, often at odds, formally came together for the first time since Özel replaced Erdoğan’s bitter rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as head of Türkiye’s oldest party.

This "softening" politics, as Erdoğan termed, however, gave rise to rumors that it may harm the People’s Alliance. "The People’s Alliance stands firm and uniform and will remain so," Erdoğan told his lawmakers last week. "Any attack on any member of the alliance is an attack on the whole of it, which we will not allow."

MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli himself has pledged allegiance to the People’s Alliance, although he acknowledged that some people within the AK Party may be displeased with the MHP’s policies. "This normalization effort is essentially an effort to normalize the opposition," Erdoğan said last week. "It’s the opposition that will unclench its fist and fix its language. It’s the opposition that needs to soften." Referring to Özel’s offer to ally with the MHP, Erdoğan said: "There can be a softening but no political alliance with the ruling party and the main opposition party. We have no such effort for it, either."

The report by Sabah newspaper says that some members of the AK Party’s central executive committee expressed disappointment with statements by some figures of the CHP that could be interpreted as the opposition "giving an ultimatum" to the government. They called for ending the discussions with the CHP. A majority of the committee, on the other hand, highlighted the need for dialogue, telling Erdoğan that the talks had public support and were necessary to end public tensions. Erdoğan, for his part, said the talks may continue in several fields, from counterterrorism and economy to foreign policy. The president also said that they would not remain silent in the face of criticism for the sake of continued dialogue and urged fellow party members to counter attempts to stir up strife within the People’s Alliance and "immediately respond" to any statements by CHP members to that extent.

In a speech last week, Bahçeli hit out at the opponents of the People’s Alliance and Türkiye in general, "who resorted to psychological warfare" against them. He said a vile campaign was underway to undermine Türkiye’s peace and stability by "hypocritical democrats, dubious revolutionaries, lying freedom lovers, corrupt elite, politicians favoring crises, dark forces, puppets of foreign powers."

"The advantage of democracy is balancing different perspectives through mutual interaction. We can say that the true strength of democracy lies in the effort to deliberate on various perspectives and the disagreements between them. However, the hypocrisy among the apostles of a made-up democracy is rampant," he said.

"Their sole aim, in addition to weakening our internal front and stooping to the lowest depths of immorality to accompany and guide regional and global treacherous scenarios, is to see the MHP stumble, the dissolution of the People's Alliance, and Türkiye being cornered into giving up its historical and sovereign rights in a devastating manner. These will certainly face defeat and disappointment. The vile game is quite clear, and its corrupt players are circling around us like crazy. Nevertheless, with patience, perseverance, fortitude and strong will, we are rejecting entirely the swamp they want to drag and pull us into, focusing on the urgent and real agenda of our nation, and occupying our minds with these matters," he said.

CHP officials often hit out at the MHP for acting as an "accomplice" in what they define as "wrongdoings" of the government.

AK Party’s camp

Along with dialogue with the opposition, the AK Party seeks to dissect the results of the elections that cost it several strongholds. On Sunday, the party’s mayors gathered for a three-day camp in the capital Ankara. More than 540 mayors attended a "consultation and assessment meeting," which will also be attended by eight ministers. President Erdoğan is expected to address the meeting on Monday. The camp will give an opportunity to mayors to present and discuss problems they encountered in office.

Sabah newspaper reported on Sunday that AK Party-run municipalities will also explore ways to improve coordination among them and mayors will share their experiences on how to tackle several issues the municipalities face, such as stray dog issue.

The AK Party laid out a road map for the next general elections in 2028 at another three-day camp earlier in June, which included launching "Türkiye meetings" that will start this month. The meetings will last until the party’s ordinary congress, scheduled for October 2025, which is expected to be "unlike the usual assemblies."

The AK Party wants to set up a vast consultation network to discuss fresh policies and dissect its performance over the past 20 years. The party will send its lawmakers into the field to meet with citizens to personally respond to public questions.

In addition to fieldwork, an online organization model is also in the works.

The party is planning to increase the number of its members, currently over 11 million nationwide, notably targeting voters who opted for other parties or abstained in the May 2023 general and March 31 local elections.

Turnout was particularly low for the local vote, down by almost 5 million people to 78.1% from 84.7% in 2019 and 86.9% in the 2023 elections, meaning 22 out of every 100 voters didn’t go to polls.

The CHP won 14 metropolitan municipalities, including Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, though the AK Party sought to retake after losing them to the CHP in the 2019 elections. Per Erdoğan’s promise to make "the necessary changes" at the party after the elections, new chairs were appointed to seven provincial branches last week.