Editing Justice and Development Party (section)

==Ideology==
Although the party is described as an Islamist party in some media, party officials reject those claims. According to former minister Hüseyin Çelik, "''In the Western press, when the AKP administration – the ruling party of the Turkish Republic – is being named, unfortunately most of the time 'Islamic,' 'Islamist,' 'mildly Islamist,' 'Islamic-oriented,' 'Islamic-based' or 'with an Islamic agenda,' and similar language is being used. These characterizations do not reflect the truth, and they sadden us.''" Çelik added, "''The AKP is a conservative democratic party. The AKP's conservatism is limited to moral and social issues.''" Also in a separate speech made in 2005, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated, "''We are not an Islamic party, and we also refuse labels such as Muslim-democrat.''" Erdoğan went on to say that the AKP's agenda is limited to "conservative democracy".

The party's foreign policy has also been widely described as Neo-Ottomanist, an ideology that promotes renewed Turkish political engagement in the former territories of its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire. However, the party's leadership has also rejected this label.
===European affiliation===
In 2005, the party was granted observer membership in the European People's Party (EPP).

In November 2013, the party left the EPP to join the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (now Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe) instead. This move was attributed to the AKP's disappointment not to be granted full membership in the EPP, while it was admitted as a full member of the AECR. It drew criticism in both national and European discourses, as the driving force of Turkey's aspirations to become a member of the European Union decided to join a largely eurosceptic alliance, abandoning the more influential pro-European EPP, feeding suspicions that AKP wants to join a watered down, not a closely integrated EU.