page_title: 1st Justice and Development Party Extraordinary Congress
section_title: Erdoğan's speech
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Justice and Development Party Extraordinary Congress / Event / Erdoğan's speech
caption_attribution_description: English: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Third Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
context_page_description: The 2014 Extraordinary Congress of the Justice and Development Party was held on 27 August 2014 in order to elect a new leader of the Justice and Development Party, the ruling political party of Turkey. It was the first extraordinary congress in the party's history, necessitated by the election of party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 12th President of Turkey. Former Foreign Minister and Konya MP Ahmet Davutoğlu was unanimously elected unopposed as party leader. The congress marked the last public appearance of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as Prime Minister, as he assumed the Presidency the day after. The congress took place at a time of significant change to Turkish politics, with the opposition Republican People's Party also holding an extraordinary convention on 5–6 September.
context_section_description: In his speech lasting 110 minutes, Erdoğan vowed to keep fighting the "parallel state" which he claimed is formed by bureaucrats and judicial officials from Cemaat aligned with Fethullah Gülen. He claimed that the change of leadership would only be cosmetic, with the party's principles and missions remaining the same. He further stated that the nomination of Davutoğlu as leader was not for show or as a "trustee". Claiming that the AKP's "road to a new Turkey" was in the vision of both Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Adnan Menderes, Erdoğan stated that his absence would by no means result in the party's downfall or loss of political vision. In his closing remarks, he criticised the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for its refusal to not attend his swearing in as a democratically elected President, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for its opposition to the PKK peace process and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for supporting terrorism. Claiming that supporters of such opposition parties had also supported his presidential election bid, Erdoğan thanked his voters and hoped that the opposition would learn from their electoral losses.
caption: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the Justice and Development Party from 2001 to 2014
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