The New Welfare Party is a Turkish political party founded in 2018 by Fatih Erbakan, named after the "old" Welfare Party founded in 1983, one of the parties founded and headed by Fatih's father, Necmettin Erbakan.

Establishment

The New Welfare Party was founded on November 23, 2018, following the defection of its leader Fatih Erbakan from the Felicity Party, founded by his father, the late Turkish political leader Necmettin Erbakan.

Necmettin Erbakan is the founder of Turkey's National Vision Movement, which was the intellectual source of all the parties Erbakan formed until his death.

The "old" Welfare Party was able to enter parliament in the 1991 elections, and won a majority of seats in the 1995 elections, after which Erbakan Sr. assumed the presidency of the Turkish government as part of a parliamentary coalition.

Immediately after the announcement of the establishment of the new Welfare Party, Abdulhamit Kayi Khan Osmanoglu, grandson of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, reiterated his support for the new party.

Fatih Erbakan announced that his party will support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2023 elections (AP)

Thought and ideology

The New Welfare Party is one of the religiously and socially conservative parties, and sees itself as the true heir to the principles of the national vision, unlike the Felicity Party, which believes that it has departed from this vision.

According to its founding charter, the New Welfare Party declared that its goal was "to establish a new world and a just order under the leadership of a great Turkey again," while adopting the principle of "morality first." It also aims to promote national production and development and eradicate poverty.

The party opposes the increase in interest rates, which Fatih Erbakan saw in a statement as "unfair and unjustly profitable," and stressed that they are discussing eliminating them completely if his party comes to power.

Highlights

After the establishment, the new party's dispute with the Felicity Party surfaced, as Fatih Erbakan began the seizure procedures for the general headquarters of the Felicity Party in the capital, Ankara, which remained the general headquarters of all the National Vision parties founded by Necmettin Erbakan, ending with the Felicity Party, which Erbakan the father headed until his death.

Fatih Erbakan justified the seizure of the building by saying that the Felicity Party no longer followed the line of national vision and did not pay the rent for the building in question. On April 11, 2019, the Felicity Party vacated the building, and the new Welfare Party moved it into its headquarters.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the party opposed the idea of compulsory vaccination of the general public and adopted an anti-vaccine stance.

The new Welfare Party announced on March 22, 2023 to join the People's Alliance (AP)

The party supported President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to withdraw from the UN Istanbul Convention, and Fatih Erbakan welcomed this decision, noting that it was "a step in place, even came late."

The party participated in the elections for the first time in 2021 when it fielded a candidate for the municipal elections of the Güney district, in the city of Sinan Pasha in the province of Afyonkarahisar, on June 2021, <>, but Erol Karapak was elected the AKP candidate for mayor, while the new Welfare Party candidate came sixth among the candidates.

The party again participated in a mayoral election held in the town of Dodurga in the Horta district of Jankiri state on the fourth of July 2022, and its candidate came second with 47 votes, while the AKP candidate won the post.

Ahead of the 2023 elections, party leader Fatih Erbakan announced that his party would run alone, with its name and logo without joining either of the two main alliances: the Ruling People's Alliance and the Opposition Nation.

On March 2023, 10, a delegation from the Justice and Development Party headed by former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim visited the headquarters of the new Welfare Party and met with Erbakan, and handed him an invitation to join the People's Alliance, and although Erbakan welcomed the invitation, his party made its decision <> days later, rejecting the offer.

Hours before the High Electoral Commission closed the registration of electoral alliances, the new Welfare Party announced on March 22, 2023, joining the People's Alliance, following a recent meeting with a delegation from the Justice and Development Party (PJD).