"Anatolian Revolution" and "Victory of the Nation" were among the headlines of newspapers when the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) certified its first election win in the Nov. 3, 2002 elections. As it garnered more than 34% of the vote in the first election it competed merely one year after its establishment, few predicted the party would last for more than two decades. Today, it still enjoys widespread public support and has already made it into the short history of the Republic of Türkiye with its successive election wins.

As it crushed stalwarts of Turkish politics and outdid its closest rival, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nov. 3 election was also the first victory for the party’s founder Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Ironically, he was not elected on Nov. 3 due to a political ban slapped on this former mayor of Istanbul. Still, his name was everywhere as his first remarks tied the election victory to "being the voice of the silent majority."

The "Anatolian revolution," as the AK Party itself called it, refers to an end to a period of short-lived coalition governments often formed by parties with little support and the beginning of a new era where people outside the big cities and elitist parties often elicited wider support.

Since then, the AK Party has participated in seven general elections including by-elections, and won them all. Erdoğan, who was elected as prime minister after his political ban ended, went on to govern the country as either prime minister or president for more than two decades, the longest in Turkish politics.

Within its base, the AK Party has millions of people from differing political backgrounds, and since winning its first election, its voter count has increased in every subsequent election. Though it was viewed as a stronghold of conservative voters from the Anatolian heartland, it managed to draw disillusioned voters of other parties over the years. The party faltered for the first time in municipal elections last March where it lost several strongholds to the CHP but it looks to regain lost ground with a new congress process that will involve a reshuffle of cadres, something Erdoğan repeatedly assured after the municipal vote.

Despite its successful election record and having a strong group of leaders, the party's lengthy journey has, in fact, been filled with struggles. The CHP and the secular elite within the judiciary sought to curb the party’s advancement through a series of lawsuits for its closure and blocking of its presidential candidate Abdullah Gül. However, this only served to boost support for the party which increased its votes in successive elections.

The military tutelage system has been yet another struggle, marked by the April 27, 2007 "e-memorandum" statement that was released online by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) that focused on secularism against the AK Party. The move drew huge reactions from the AK Party, which underlined that it was "undemocratic" to have such a stance against the government. The AK Party was also hit with a closure case the following year that eventually failed. On March 14, 2008, a petition to shut down the party and forbid 71 of its members, including Erdoğan, from participating in politics for five years was presented to the Constitutional Court. On July 30, 2008, the case was dismissed because the necessary majority to approve such a decision was not met among the judges of the high court.

On Feb. 7, 2012, former prosecutor Sadrettin Sarıkaya, who would later be linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), had sought to summon Hakan Fidan, the director of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), to the court for "testimony" in 2012, sparking a crisis. This move later turned out to be a plot by FETÖ to implicate state officials on trumped-up charges and imprison them to seize power. Erdoğan, prime minister at the time, prevented Fidan from going to court where he would likely have been charged with aiding the PKK terrorist group in a case regarding the alleged audio recordings of MIT officials holding talks with senior PKK militants.

Yet another difficulty was also right around the corner as the Gezi Park protests erupted on May 28, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Istanbul in what began as a peaceful protest against a plan to build a replica of Ottoman barracks at the park at Taksim Square. Within a few days, the protests turned into nationwide demonstrations and riots against Erdoğan's government when supporters of the terrorist groups joined protesters.

Later that year, FETÖ, whose members infiltrated state institutions and agencies over the past decades, made its first move to topple the government. In December 2013, FETÖ-linked judiciary officials and police chiefs sought to implicate people close to the government in a so-called graft probe. Their ultimate aim to topple Erdoğan failed, though. FETÖ tried to topple the government again on July 15, 2016, this time through its military infiltrators. A bloody coup attempt cost more than 250 lives but again, it failed as supporters of the AK Party and large crowds made an unprecedented stand against putschists.

Though it had no shortage of support, the AK Party went on to form the People’s Alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) ahead of the general elections in June 2018. Other parties occasionally supported the alliance, most notably during the 2023 elections where Erdoğan faced a six-party opposition bloc. Erdoğan overcame the odds in his first runoff and was elected for another five years as president.

In a message on the anniversary, AK Party deputy chair and spokesperson Ömer Çelik said their party was behind epoch-making reforms and services during the past 22 years. "Our president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defeated every attempt against democracy with the support of the nation and his leadership. AK Party’s policies under his leadership paved the way for a strong future for our nation," Çelik said in a social media post.

Çelik stated that the 2002 election success of the AK Party was a new beginning for Turkish politics. "Our revered nation rebuilt civilian politics again through the AK Party," he said. Turkish democracy, which found its true self in the years after the Democrat Party won its first election in 1950 in a genuine multi-party vote, was often hindered by the military elite. The army first intervened in a democratically elected government in 1960 and toppled the Democrat Party of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. Encouraged by this past example, the army shut down democracy again in 1980, handing down political bans to many prominent politicians. Last but not least, it gave an ultimatum to a government co-chaired by Erdoğan’s political mentor Necmettin Erbakan, forcing him to resign during the notorious "postmodern coup" of 1997.

In another message on the occasion, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz celebrated the AK Party’s seminal victory and said they would continue serving the country’s independence, nation’s freedom and welfare by reaching higher democratic standards and more advanced development goals as the People’s Alliance.