Virtue Party was an Islamist

Islamism

Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...

 political party established in December 1998 in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned in June 2001, for violating the secularist articles of the Constitution

Constitution of Turkey

This article relates to a current event. See also the Turkish constitutional referendum, 2010The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government and sets out the principles and rules of the state's conduct along with its...

. After the party's ban, the party MPs founded two parties: reformist Justice and Development Party

Justice and Development Party (Turkey)

The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...

 (AKP) and traditionalist Felicity Party (SP).

Founders of Virtue Party were also active members of National Order Party

National Order Party

National Order Party was a Islamist political party in Turkey, which adopted the National View ideology. It was founded on 26 January 1970 by Necmettin Erbakan...

 (MNP), National Salvation Party

National Salvation Party

The National Salvation Party was an Islamist political party in Turkey founded on 11 October 1972 as the successor of the banned National Order Party . The party was led by Necmettin Erbakan...

 (MSP) and Welfare Party

Welfare Party

The Welfare Party 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, Milli Nizam Partisi and Milli Selamet Partisi , which were banned from politics...

 (RP). The Virtue Party was the first party in this tradition to have genuine intra-party democracy.

Merve Kavakçı

Merve Kavakci

Merve Safa Kavakçı was a Turkish politician, who was elected as a Virtue Party deputy for Istanbul on April 18, 1999. On May 2, she was prevented from making her parliamentary oath because of her hijab, which is banned for civil servants in secular Turkey...

, the female elected MP who was banned from swearing her oath

Oath

An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...

 in Turkish Grand National Assembly because she wore headscarf

Hijab

The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....

, was a Virtue Party member.