Enadin Refah, the Islamist party that contributed to Erdogan’s defeat in Turkish municipalities.

Turkey’s Islamist Yeniden Refah party made important progress in Sunday’s municipal elections to the detriment of the AKP, the party in power led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, establishing itself as the nation’s third-ranking political force with 6.2% of the vote.

Yeniden Refah (New Prosperity Party) is cited as one of the reasons for the defeat of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2003, by attracting religious voters disillusioned with Erdogan in maintaining trade relations with Israel, despite his critical speech about conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Founded in 2018, the group, with its roots in political Islam, lays claim to the legacy of Necmettin Erbakan, an influential leader and mentor to the young Erdogan who launched the Islamist Milli Gorus (National Vision) movement in the late 1960s. inspiring numerous parties and associations. in Turkey and among the Turkish diaspora in France and Germany, reports the AFP news agency.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then 21, took his first steps in politics with this party, and it was with the help of his mentor Necmettin Erbakan that he won the Istanbul municipal elections in 1994 as a candidate for the Refah Party.

Erbakan assumed the post of prime minister at the head of a coalition between June 1996 and June 1997, when he was overthrown by the then powerful military and judicial authorities in what has been defined as a “postmodern coup d’état”. involve bloodshed, unlike the three previous military coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980.

Relations with his “spiritual father” soured when Erdogan and his allies tried to overthrow Erbakan and then formed the AKP in 2002, depriving him of his already declining influence.

Fatih Erbakan, one of the sons of the “khoja” (“teacher”), in 2018 resumes the party of his father, who died in 2011, under the name Yeniden Refah.

According to several observers, Erbakan’s son, by contributing to the failure recorded by President Erdogan on Sunday, took revenge for his father.

Yeniden Refah advocates a more hardline Islamic-conservative worldview than the AKP, which prioritizes “morality and spiritual values.”

“We will close LGBT associations when we are in power. This is a heresy prohibited in all religions,” said its leader.

The party is anti-feminist and has championed Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention aimed at combating violence against women.

Opposing interest rates, which it considers usurious and contrary to Islam, the party has distinguished itself in recent months by condemning trade relations between Turkey and Israel despite the war in the Gaza Strip.

“If the government stops trade with Israel, it will close the Malatya radar station. [instalada em 2012 pela NATO, aliança militar à qual pertence a Turquia] which defends Israel, and double the amount of reforms to 20,000 Turkish pounds (580 euros), we are ready to withdraw our candidacy in Istanbul,” Erbakan warned on the eve of the vote.

Analysts say the Yeniden Refah party won a large number of votes by putting the war in Gaza and inflation – 67.1% last year – at the center of its campaign.

Yeniden Refah, which supported President Erdogan in the May 2023 presidential elections, won on Sunday in two provinces, Sanliurfa (southeast) and Yozgat (centre), which are governed by AKP citizens.

With 6.2% of the national vote, it overtook President Erdogan’s coalition partner, the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), which received 5% of the vote nationwide.

“We should not trust those who are trying to make us lose, even if they have been on our side for some time,” Erdogan warned.