President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to chair an administrative meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday that will kick off the party’s congress process and, with it, a flurry of promised changes.

The party is assembling its Central Decision-Making and Administrative Committee (MKYK) in the capital, Ankara, to start its eighth serial congress calendar next month.

Provincial congresses will be completed by March 30, 2025, until Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday celebrated at the end of the monthlong fasting of Ramadan.

AK Party delegates will assemble for the major congress in May next year where the party elects its leader or leadership organs and determines its policy and agenda.

During the congress process, the ruling party will refresh its cadres, most notably the MKYK, which has 110 seats.

The AK Party, which boasts the largest number of members, more than 11 million according to last year’s figures, will also commence congress meetings in small towns and later move to districts and provinces ahead of the May congress.

Party officials have said the congress meetings will be more inclusive in cities and districts with over 100,000 people; broader consultation meetings will be held with citizens.

During this period, the party also plans to organize "Türkiye meetings," which are meant to be preparatory assemblies for provincial and district congresses.

Speaking at the 23rd-anniversary event last month, Erdoğan said the party was engaging in "sincere self-criticism" and "boldly working on our deficiencies without any hang-ups."

"This congress period will not be just a window dressing but the prime ground for the comprehensive change our people expect from us," he said.

He also urged those who "have lost their excitement" to "not stand in the way of serving our people."

While the decisions on when to hold the congress meetings will be made on Sept. 3, the party began preparations for the said change after the March 31 local elections, when the party suffered its first major loss in the past two decades, during which it won successive general and local elections.

The AK Party won 380 city and district municipalities, while the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), claimed 372 municipalities.

The opposition, however, is deemed victorious for winning in cities with overwhelming support for the AK Party in the past elections. The AK Party still retains a comfortable majority in Parliament and Erdoğan, although faced with the first runoff in his political career, secured another five-year term last year.

After the vote, Erdoğan vowed to look inward and conduct "necessary changes" in the party. He emphasized that they would not allow those seeking to advance their own political career and would focus on winning the hearts of "new names that will empower us." Just last month, the party replaced four more provincial chairs.

The party is also looking to welcome more members in the coming period. Erdoğan instructed his aides in the party not to "rush" in admitting new members. He also urged them to filter applicants and accept only those willing to adhere to the principles and values of the party.

The AK Party sources say admissions may be available next October, as well.

Though the political landscape in the year it was founded propelled the AK Party into the spotlight, landmark steps by successive AK Party governments helped it to stay in power for more than two decades. Those include breaking the taboo on several issues, such as the Kurdish question and a headscarf ban.

Along the way, it faced lawsuits for its closure and several coup attempts. Erdoğan himself was barred from politics after he was imprisoned for 10 months for reciting a poem deemed offensive for the country’s ruling elite, which toppled a coalition government of Erdoğan’s political mentor Necmettin Erbakan in 1997.

This ban only ended in 2003, when he became the second prime minister of the AK Party after a brief tenure by Abdullah Gül.

Since then, he has served either as prime minister or president and is credited with expanding his party’s support to the wider public through a string of reforms in public services.