Gelecek Party Chairman Ahmet Davutoğlu has decided to bring his party’s political activities to an end. Having published a four-page statement the previous evening entitled “For Tomorrow’s Turkey”, Davutoğlu argued that this was not an act of surrender or a withdrawal from politics, noting that he would continue his work in different fields.

Claiming that the party’s organisations had faced pressure, attacks and political obstruction, Davutoğlu stated in his announcement: “This is not a decision to give in. It is about prioritising our responsibility towards Turkey over day-to-day political calculations.”

Noting in his statement that “polarisation is spreading from politics to society”, Davutoğlu remarked that this situation was “undermining the sense of shared belonging”. He pointed out that socio-economic divides in the country were widening, that the principles of meritocracy had been erased from the field, and that the status of politicians had suffered a profound loss of prestige.

Touching upon the appointment of trustees, Davutoğlu stated: “The normalisation of the transfer of MPs and mayors, along with the appointment of trustees, as part of day-to-day political practice, is a major blow to the ethics of democracy and the concept of the national will, rendering the will expressed by the people at the ballot box meaningless.”

Warning about an ‘authoritarian structure’ In his statement, Davutoğlu said that “with the presidential system of government and the absence of checks and balances, the pluralistic democratic legal order could be replaced by a permanent authoritarian structure”. Davutoğlu noted that another ‘danger’ lies in the risk that ‘the wave of anger fuelled by authoritarianism, corruption, income inequality, restrictions and violations of the law could transform into a revanchist regime’.

A dissolution congress will be held on 22 August to formalise the closure of the Future Party, which was founded in December 2019.

The Future Party had joined forces with the Felicity Party and the DEVA Party to form a joint parliamentary group. The Future Party has four MPs in the ‘New Path’ coalition, which brings together the three parties in Parliament. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had brought all the parties and MPs from the Yeni Yol coalition – which included the Future Party – into Parliament. In the election held on 14 May 2023, 38 MPs from the Felicity Party, the DEVA Party, the Future Party and the Democratic Party were elected to Parliament via CHP lists.

WILL RUN TO THE AKP

Selçuk Özdağ, Deputy Group Chairman of the Yeni Yol, and Kani Torun, MP for Bursa, have announced that they will continue their work under the Yeni Yol umbrella. There is talk behind the scenes that Sema Silkin Ün, MP for Denizli, will join the YRP, and Mustafa Bilici, MP for İzmir, will join the AKP. Political parties must hold at least 20 seats to form a parliamentary group. Should MPs from the Future Party move to the AKP and the YRP, the Yeni Yol group in Parliament will also lose its status.

Although Davutoğlu broke away from the AKP, his heart and mind remained there. In a speech he gave in Konya on 16 December 2024, Davutoğlu stated, “My spirit has never strayed from the AKP,” sparking a debate in political circles at the time over whether “the Future Party would join the AKP”. On 4 March, Davutoğlu also said, referring to the war with Iran, “If there were an assassination attempt on President Erdoğan, I would defend him to the last drop of my blood.”

Davutoğlu, who began his political career as an adviser in AKP governments, was subsequently ousted from his party after ‘rising’ to the positions of Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister.

Davutoğlu, who published the book *Strategic Depth* in 2001, was one of the architects of a sectarian, expansionist, Neo-Ottoman foreign policy. Under the banner of ‘zero problems with neighbours’, he dragged the country into the quagmire of the Middle East and its conflicts.

Serving as Prime Minister during the bloodiest period in recent history between the 7 June and 1 November 2015 elections, Davutoğlu described ISIS as “angry children”; the group carried out dozens of massacres, including those on 10 October and in Suruç.

Davutoğlu stated that the 10 October Gar Massacre, in which 103 people lost their lives, had benefited his party. The clashes known as the “Trench Wars”, in which thousands lost their lives, also took place during Davutoğlu’s tenure.

At a rally in Van on 20 October 2015, he threatened voters by saying, “If the AKP regime is removed from power, white Toros cars will be roaming these streets.” In the south-east, particularly in Hakkari, Şırnak and Diyarbakır, neighbourhoods were evacuated and forced displacement occurred during the clashes, which lasted for nearly a year. During this period, Davutoğlu’s announcement that they would rebuild the devastated district of Sur in a style similar to the historic Spanish city of Toledo drew widespread criticism.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled AKP'den ruhu asla kopmadı, published in BirGün newspaper on July 31, 2026.