Page "Justice and Development Party (Turkey)" Paragraph 4

According to former minister Hüseyin Çelik, " the AK Party is a conservative democratic party the AK Party's conservatism is limited to moral and social issues.

" The Economist characterizes the party as " mildly Islamist " while Reuters refers to the AKP as " Islamist-rooted " and " Islamic-leaning.

" The party objects to the frequent descriptions of it in the Western media as Islamist.

In March 2010 Çelik complained that " in the Western press, when the AK Party administration ... is being named, unfortunately most of the time ' Islamic ,' ' Islamist ,' ' mildly Islamist ,' ' Islamic-oriented ,' ' Islamic-leaning ,' ' Islamic-based ' or ' with an Islamic agenda ,' and similar language is being used.

These characterizations do not reflect the truth, and they sadden us.