With the leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, the Islamist Justice and Development Party, otherwise known as A.K.P, has planned to recreate Turkey's image into a "model nation" for Muslim countries. A.K.P aims to project this image of Turkey as being a nation where Islam and secularism mesh together harmoniously.
Sevan Nisanyan accused Turkey's government of political persecution, saying in a CNN phone interview that it appears that the government may have felt that he overstepped boundaries after publicly attacking the Islamist establishment.