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In March 2011 the largest gathering of international Muslim Brotherhood members (Ikhwan al-Muslimun) in more than fifty years congregatged in Istanbul to attend the funeral of Turkish politician Necmettin Erbakan (1926-2011), usually described as the founder of the Turkish Islamist movement. Although religious guidance came from Sheikh Khotku, Erbakan alone hatched the main political tenets of his political movement. And once consumed by Turkish politics, he continued to be active for four decades in that nation’s often-hostile political environment.
Prior to Erbakan’s political emergance the Ikhwan al-Muslimun had little influence within the Turkish polity. Erbakan emerged as leader of Turkey’s first important Islamist movement, the Milli Salamet Partisi (National Salvation Party). The future of both Erbakan and his National Salvation Party were clouded following the military coup of 1980, and after which the party was prorogued. Ostensibly forced from Turkish politics, Ebakan was still able to found the Refah (Welfare) Party in 1983. The Refah was an unabashed Islamist party, “which featured strong anti- Western, anti-Semitic, anti-democratic, and anti-secular elements.”
Erbakan would reemerge as a political force in 1990. And with the demise of the Soviet UnionAs head of the Refah Party, he was personally involved in the Islamist effort in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and directly supported the activities of a number of gun-running Islamic charities active in the Balkan wars. And in 1996, Erbakan reached the apex of his career when at age seventy he emerged as the first elected Islamist Prime Minister in Turkey’s modern history. As such, he sought to balance Turkey’s ties to the European Union. He traveled widely in both Arab and Muslim worlds. A year after taking office he was ousted by the military for, as they put it, �violating the constitutional principle of secularism.” Unabashed, Erbakan’s new creation, the Felicity (Saadet Partisi) Party, emerged in 2001.

As Erbakan aged, his place in the Islamist movement was assumed by a former protege, Recip Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan, the former mayor of Istanbul, chaired the emerging Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Nearly two million Turks attended the Erbakan funeral There were many honored guests including representatives of Turkish political parties, and guests from more than sixty countries. Notably, a plethora of Islamist qua Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrived in Istambul to pay their respects. They included:
— Recip Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish premier.
— Khaled Meshaal. Hamas leader, living in Damascus.
— Mohammed Nazal. Hamas political bureau memberliving in Syria.
— Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri. Iran’s senior cleric and head of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought.
— Mohammad Mahdi Akef, former Supreme Guide of the of the Muslim Brotherhood with headquarters in Egypt.
— Ibrahim Mounir. Muslim Brotherhood leader living in exile in the UK.
— Yousef Nada. Europan exile and self-described Ikhwan foreign minister.
— Ghaleb Himmat. European resident and business partner of Yousef Nada.
— Rachid Ghannouchi. Tunisia’s leading politician and Muslim Brother.
— Ibrahim al-Masri. Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood leader.
— Mustafa Mohammed Tahan. Secretary-General of the International IslamicFederation of Student Organizations (IIFSO).
— Ahmed Abd al-Aty. Secretary-General of the IIFSO.
— Ibrahim el-Zayat. Federation of Islamic Organizations In Europe (FIOE)official, and representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. Married to sister of Mehmet Sabri Erbakan, nephew of Necmettin Erbakan. Manager of the European Mosque Building Association.
— Ayman al-Ali. FIOE representative.
— Chakib Makhlouf. President of FIOE.
— Ali Bayanouni. former Ikhwan Comptroller General in Syria.
— Qazi Hussain Ahmed. Amir of the Pakistani Jammat-e-Islami.
— Abdur Rasheed Turabi. Head of the Islamic Party of Kashmir.
— Lutfi Hasan Ishaq. Chairman of Indonesia Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
— Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab. Former Sudanese President and Director, International Islamic Dawaa (Outreach).

At the conclusion of that meeting Erdogan took a leading role in the activity of the International Muslim Brotherhood
and the Ikwan, from that date, has used Turkey as a friendly home. I