AKP — Muslim Brotherhood Ties: New Study Highlights Connections

The AKP’s Mus­lim Broth­er­hood ties are the focus of a new study by an Aus­tri­an gov­ern­ment-adja­cent Islamism research body. On 30 April 2025, the Doc­u­men­ta­tion Cen­tre Polit­i­cal Islam (DPI) report­ed that a recent analy­sis had uncov­ered exten­sive polit­i­cal and ide­o­log­i­cal con­nec­tions between Turkey’s rul­ing AKP par­ty and the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood across Europe. The study high­light­ed how these links influ­enced Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ties, polit­i­cal estab­lish­ments, and broad­er Islamist net­works. The arti­cle begins:

The net­work of the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in Europe is exten­sive, with orga­ni­za­tions in indi­vid­ual coun­tries reg­u­lar­ly fundrais­ing for and pro­mot­ing Islam­ic Relief World­wide (IRW), often run by Broth­er­hood-linked indi­vid­u­als. These pan-Euro­pean enti­ties, togeth­er with numer­ous orga­ni­za­tions cre­at­ed by each country’s Broth­er­hood milieu, form a cohe­sive clus­ter led by a small clique of senior lead­ers who wield dis­pro­por­tion­ate influ­ence in orga­nized Islam in Europe. Despite rep­re­sent­ing a minor­i­ty, these lead­ers have gained sig­nif­i­cant sway with­in both Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ties and Euro­pean estab­lish­ments, lever­ag­ing a vast net­work of mosques, char­i­ties, schools, and lob­by­ing orga­ni­za­tions. Their suc­cess is attrib­uted to ample finan­cial resources, com­plex fund­ing mech­a­nisms, and the abil­i­ty to mobi­lize sup­port, posi­tion­ing them as pow­er­ful rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Euro­pean Mus­lims. How­ev­er, their views often con­flict with human rights and Euro­pean con­sti­tu­tions, rais­ing con­cerns among pol­i­cy­mak­ers. The debate con­tin­ues over whether the Broth­er­hood is a mod­er­ate reli­gious move­ment or a sub­ver­sive force, with opin­ions divid­ed among schol­ars, offi­cials, and the pub­lic. [Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man original.]

Read more: https://www.dokumentationsstelle.at/news/aktuelles/dpi-studie-zeigt-die-verbindungen-der-tuerkischen-akp-zur-muslimbruderschaft-auf

Key Points

• The study doc­u­ments exten­sive ties between Turk­ish AKP offi­cials and pan-Euro­pean Mus­lim Broth­er­hood net­works, espe­cial­ly in orga­ni­za­tion­al lead­er­ship roles.

• It found that Broth­er­hood-linked orga­ni­za­tions have sig­nif­i­cant influ­ence over Euro­pean Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ties and polit­i­cal insti­tu­tions, often out­pac­ing oth­er Islam­ic groups.

• Finan­cial resources and mobi­liza­tion skills enable these net­works to pro­mote their agen­da and main­tain vis­i­bil­i­ty in Europe.

• The study rais­es con­cerns about the com­pat­i­bil­i­ty of Broth­er­hood-linked views with Euro­pean con­sti­tu­tion­al val­ues and human rights.

AKP — Muslim Brotherhood Ties: Connection and Influence Across Europe

Numer­ous GIOR inves­ti­ga­tions have revealed close con­nec­tions between the AKP and the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood (GMB). The AKP’s col­lab­o­ra­tion with UK Mus­lim Broth­er­hood lead­ers has led to the estab­lish­ment of new think tanks and plat­forms, such as the Cen­tre for Turk­ish-British Under­stand­ing (CTBU), facil­i­tat­ing strate­gic dia­logue and influ­ence oper­a­tions across Europe. This part­ner­ship is fur­ther reflect­ed in the AKP’s ongo­ing engage­ment with dias­po­ra com­mu­ni­ties, as seen in par­lia­men­tary out­reach efforts in the US, and in the involve­ment of Turk­ish-linked orga­ni­za­tions in anti-Semit­ic protests in Ger­many, where groups close­ly asso­ci­at­ed with both the AKP and the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood had orches­trat­ed coor­di­nat­ed action. Exter­nal research con­firms that these alliances are rein­forced by shared ide­o­log­i­cal goals, finan­cial net­works, and coor­di­nat­ed pub­lic mes­sag­ing, with the AKP’s sup­port for Broth­er­hood-affil­i­at­ed orga­ni­za­tions in Europe rais­ing con­cerns about the export of polit­i­cal Islam and the impact on local inte­gra­tion poli­cies. Ana­lysts note that these con­nec­tions are not only his­tor­i­cal but have adapt­ed to con­tem­po­rary geopo­lit­i­cal shifts, lever­ag­ing dias­po­ra orga­ni­za­tions and joint ini­tia­tives to expand influ­ence and shape nar­ra­tives on issues rang­ing from Mid­dle East­ern con­flicts to Euro­pean domes­tic policy.

Exter­nal References:

• Turkey, the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood, and the Gaza Flotilla

• Islamist Civ­i­liza­tion­al Pol­i­tics and the AKP: Turkey’s Role in a Chang­ing Mus­lim World

• AKP and the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood: faith­ful companions?

Dis­claimer:

The Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report (GIOR) employs AI through­out the post­ing process, includ­ing gen­er­at­ing sum­maries of news items, the intro­duc­tion, key points, and often the “con­text” sec­tion. We rec­om­mend ver­i­fy­ing all infor­ma­tion before use. Addi­tion­al­ly, images are AI-gen­er­at­ed and intend­ed sole­ly for illus­tra­tive pur­pos­es. While they rep­re­sent the events or indi­vid­u­als dis­cussed, they should not be inter­pret­ed as real-world photography.