Necmettin Erbakan in the context of "Turkish Land Forces"

The Welfare Party (Turkish: Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party (MSP), which were banned from politics. The RP participated in mayoral elections at that time and won in three cities Konya, Şanlıurfa, and Van. Their vote percentage was approximately 5%.

The Welfare Party participated in the 1991 elections in a triple alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Reformist Democracy Party (IDP). They gained 16.9% of the vote. They won 62 deputies to parliament, but 19 deputies of MHP (with founding Democratic Movement Party on 25 December 1991 and joining the MÇP on 29 December 1991) and 3 of IDP left the Welfare Party after the election. Their popular vote increased over the years until they became the largest party under Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in 1996. The coalition government of Erbakan was forced out of power by the Turkish military in 1997, due to being suspected of having an Islamist agenda.

The 1997 military memorandum (Turkish: 28 Şubat, "28 February"; also called postmodern darbe, "post-modern coup") in Turkey refers to a memorandum, in which decisions issued by the Turkish military leadership on a National Security Council meeting on 28 February 1997 resulted in the resignation of Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan of the Welfare Party, and the end of his coalition government.

As the government was forced out without dissolving the parliament or suspending the constitution, the event has been famously labelled a "postmodern coup" by the Turkish admiral Salim Dervişoğlu. The process after the coup is alleged to have been organised by the West Working Group, a purported clandestine group within the military.

The New Welfare Party (Turkish: Yeniden Refah Partisi, YRP) is an Islamist and ultraconservative political party in Turkey, founded on 23 November 2018. The party positions itself as the successor to the Welfare Party (Turkish: Refah Partisi), which was a prominent Islamist political party in the 1990s. The party's founder and leader Fatih Erbakan is the son of the late Turkish prime minister Necmettin Erbakan who was the founder of the original Welfare Party and the inspiration for the Millî Görüş ideology.

The National Salvation Party (Turkish: Millî Selâmet Partisi, MSP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey, founded on 11 October 1972 as the successor of the banned National Order Party (Millî Nizam Partisi, MNP). The party was formed by a core group of working cadres of the now banned MNP, with Süleyman Arif Emre serving as the registered founding chairman. Given the banning of the MNP by the staunchly secular state, only 19 individuals were ready to form the party. Necmettin Erbakan, who took part in the formation of the party, officially joined the party in May 1973, taking over the reins of the party in October 1973. The party grew more popular and in 1973 elections it gained 11.8% of votes, gaining 48 seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In the 1977 elections, it gained 8.56% of votes and won 24 seats. In 1974 it formed the coalition government with the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) of Bülent Ecevit. MSP was closed down after the 1980 military coup.

Millî Gazete, launched 12 January 1973, was the party's semi-official daily newspaper.

General elections were held in Turkey on 20 October 1991, to elect members to the 19th Grand National Assembly. It was the first by the ruling Motherland Party to be contested without its founding leader, Turgut Özal, who had become Turkish president two years previously. The result was a swing against Özal's former party in favour of its fierce centre-right rival, the True Path Party led by Süleyman Demirel. The vote saw two additional parties cross the 10 percent barrier to enter parliament. Necmettin Erbakan and his Welfare Party saw a party of religious background returned for the first time in 14 years. Welfare had a greatly increased share of the vote and took several key provinces, including Istanbul in 1994 local elections. Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party also scraped through to win seven seats. Voter turnout was 83.9%.