The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) candidate for Diyarbakır mayor, Galip Ensarioğlu, stated on Tuesday that the name of the Kurdish-populated regions of Turkey (the country's southeastern provinces) is “Turkish Kurdistan.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced 10 candidates who will run for mayoral posts in 10 major cities in the local elections, slated for March 30, at this week's meeting of his party's parliamentary group, and this should be seen as the start of his party's election campaign.

Contrary to popular belief, conservatism is not against change.

A Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesman has confirmed that the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) profiled some movements and groups, but rejected allegations that the government had taken action against those groups upon MİT profiling.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was an agent of change in Turkey. It transformed Turkish politics, eliminated the Kemalist-secularist old establishment and integrated conservative social and economic groups into the state.

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin has been nominated as a candidate for a mayoral post in the southern Turkish province of Hatay and will kick-start his campaign on Wednesday, İsmail Kimyeci, head of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Hatay branch, said on Monday.

The state in Turkey remains the central agent capable of and willing to suppress social and economic actors. In the absence of checks and balances within the system, that results in the monopolization of power in the hands of the few, and it is inevitable that even elected rulers become authoritarian.

The Prime Ministry, the National Security Council (MGK) and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) have filed a criminal complaint against the Turkish daily which has revealed that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government signed on to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet (Gülen) movement.

Deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have rallied against a draft law proposed by their ruling party that seeks to shut down prep schools, claiming that it would violate freedom of enterprise and the right to education.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced in his party's new democratization package that improvements to the election system are due, and shared two possible alternative systems, which, experts say, all seem to work best for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

The Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Kütahya deputy, İdris Bal, who was referred to the party's disciplinary board for expulsion because he opposed the government's planned closure of prep schools, announced on Saturday that he has resigned from his party.

Former national team captain and current Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy Hakan Şükür, referring to the government's plan to shut down prep schools, has said it was wrong to vote “yes” on their closure before a process is carried out which eliminates the need for the schools.

The fact that the debates about the closure of prep schools in Turkey has made such waves on the national agenda is a reflection of some of the fundamental issues that lie behind the country's politics.

Many deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) who met on Thursday with Education Minister Nabi Avcı told the minister that they are against a law to close prep schools, adding that the issue should not be handled hastily and that it should be thoroughly discussed before taking any steps toward closure.

The Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Kütahya deputy, İdris Bal, who was referred to the party's disciplinary board for expulsion because he opposed the government's planned closure of prep schools, has been receiving messages of support and gifts of flowers from every part of the country for his stance.

Another deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has criticized a recent government plan to shut down prep schools, saying that these institutions are not the cause of problems in the education system but a consequence of the current system.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government failed to convince its own deputies on why prep schools should be closed during its parliamentary group meeting in the Turkish Parliament in Ankara on Tuesday, sources have told Today’s Zaman.

A Turkish daily's publication last week of a secret document dated to August, 2004 has sent shock waves through Turkish politics, which is becoming increasingly polarized ahead of the three elections Turkey will undergo before 2015.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) last week referred Kütahya deputy İdris Bal -- who opposed the government's planned closure of prep schools -- to the party's disciplinary board for expulsion for having violated party discipline.

The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has maintained that the insistence by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has dropped out of the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation Commission tasked with drafting a new constitution, on the introduction in the new constitution of a presidential system blocked the progress of the commission's work.