Abstract
This article deals with the politics of care and the changing features of familialism in Turkey under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). While sacred familialism, which is built on the role of women as devoted care providers and blessed mothers, is evident in the AKP’s gender politics, care has received more public recognition through targeted policies than in any other period of the modern Republic. A combination of conflicting cultural, social, political, and demographic forces has compelled the AKP to introduce care policies in different realms of life to support the family in its caring function.