The New Welfare Party (, YRP) is an Islamist and

ultraconservative Ultraconservatism refers to extreme conservative views in politics or religious practice. In modern politics, ''ultraconservative'' usually refers to conservatives of the far-right on the political spectrum, comprising groups or individuals wh ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in Turkey, founded on 23 November 2018. The party positions itself as the successor to the Welfare Party ( Turkish: ''Refah Partisi''), which was a prominent Islamist political party in the 1990s. The party's founder and leader Fatih Erbakan is the son of the late Turkish prime minister Necmettin Erbakan who was the founder of the original Welfare Party and the inspiration for the Millî Görüş ideology.

History

YRP was established by Fatih Erbakan, who aimed to revive the legacy of the original Welfare Party, which had been a significant political force in Turkey before its closure by the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

in 1998 for activities against the principle of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

. The founding of the New Welfare Party reflects an effort to re-enter the political scene with a reformed agenda that complies with the secular and democratic framework of the Turkish Republic while retaining a focus on Islamic values. On 21 January 2023, leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, Rasmus Paludan was permitted to burn a

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Following the incident, the party protested

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in front of the Swedish Consulate-General in Istanbul. Initially a critic of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in 2023 the party announced Fatih Erbakan's candidacy for the presidential election. However, the party later backpedaled and instead announced their support for

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, joining the People's Alliance on March 24, 2023. The party ran under their own list at the parliamentary elections, securing five seats at the Grand National Assembly. Prior to the 2023 elections, Erbakan was supportive of Turkish government's efforts to improve relations with Egypt and the UAE. Shortly after the elections, Erbakan changed his position again, leaving the People's Alliance due, accusing the AKP of ignoring its demands including lowering interest rates, outlawing adultery and removing rules on gender equality. Erbakan has repeatedly criticized Erdogan's government over its pragmatism in regards to not embargoing Israel completely, and criticizes government's efforts to increase relations with Arab regimes like Egypt and the UAE. The party achieved significant electoral success in the 2024 local elections, winning 6.2 percent of the vote, just behind the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) and AKP.

Ideology and political positions

The party's ideology is rooted in ultraconservatism and Islamism. The party was founded with the slogan "We are here for our nation". They specified that their main goals are "First morality and spirituality, then to design the new world order under the leadership of Turkey." Fatih Erbakan has stated that the new party would replace the current system by a new

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

, and that returning to a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

would be harmful. The party is strongly against Israel and advocates cutting trade ties with the country. It also supports closing the Kürecik Radar Station, operated by

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. The party is against LGBT rights, and has declared that LGBT people are "a perversion banned in every religion". The party aims to lift a law that protects women and children against

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

. Party leader Fatih Erbakan is also an open supporter of the anti-vax movement. He claimed

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

s could lead to people giving birth to "half-human, half-monkey" children.

Election results

Parliamentary elections

Local elections

References

External links

New Welfare Party
official website {{Milli Görüş parties 2018 establishments in Turkey Political parties established in 2018 Anti-American sentiment in Turkey Anti-Zionist political parties Conservative parties in Turkey Eurosceptic parties in Turkey Far-right political parties in Turkey Islamic political parties in Turkey Islamic political parties Islamism in Turkey Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Turkey Pan-Islamism Political parties in Turkey Right-wing populism in Turkey Turkish irredentism Vaccine hesitancy Conservatism in Turkey