The conservative AKP has moderated itself as part of a larger strategy to attract a wider electoral base in order to gain control over all aspects of the government. "In the past, Prime Minister Erdogan was saying that he was the imam of Istanbul and that he was against secularism and that someone could not be secular and a Muslim at the same time," Sena Karasipahi, author of Muslims in Modern Turkey, says. "Now, they [AKP] have moderated themselves to stay in power."
Konzervativna AKP je postala umerenija, u sklopu šire strategije da privuče veću biračku bazu kako bi ostvarila kontrolu nad svim aspektima vlasti. „U prošlosti je premijer Erdogan govorio da je imam Istanbula i da je protiv sekularizma i da ne možete biti sekularista i musliman u isto vreme“, kaže Sena Karasipahi, autorka knjige Muslimani u modernoj Turskoj. „Sada su [AKP] postali umereniji da bi ostali na vlasti.“