Two small parties from Turkey's fractured centre right merged on Saturday as a challenge to the ruling Islamist-rooted party, two years after a similar attempt failed, the Anatolia news agency reported. In simultaneous congress meetings held in Ankara, the Motherland Party (ANAP) and the Democrat Party (DP) joined forces under the DP banner and headed by DP leader Husamettin Cindoruk. In 2007, two parties had announced an agreement to merge ahead of snap general elections in July that year to mount a stronger challenge against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). But the deal collapsed with both parties accusing the other of failing to honour the terms of the deal. The 2007 elections, called to resolve a severe political crisis, saw the AKP win a landslide victory with more than 46 percent of the vote and earn a second term in office. The DP won only 5.4 percent of the vote, less than the 10-percent national threshold required for parliamentary representation, while ANAP did not run in the elections. Erdogan's AKP, born out of a now-defunct Islamist party, has been the dominant force in Turkish politics since it first came to power as an untested party in 2002. The AKP says it has disawoved its Islamist past and is now committed to the country's secular order and pro-Western path, but many suspect the party of seeking to increase the influence of Islam in Turkey and undermine the strict separation of state and religion. 