Republican People's Party (Turkey)
From Freepedia
The Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi or CHP) is a social democratic and secular Turkish nationalist political party in Turkey.
| Image:CHP Logo3.jpg | |
| President: | Deniz Baykal |
| Founded: | 1923 |
| Headquarters: |
Üsküp Caddesi Çevre Sokak No: 38 |
| Political ideology: | social-democratic and nationalist |
| Parliamentarians: | 158/550 |
| Website: | Republican People's Party of Turkey |
Contents |
Brief Background
The Republican People's Party is the largest opposition party in Turkey, with 158 out of 550 seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as of July 2005. It opposes the conservative yet moderate Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party, which controls the Parliament. CHP considers itself a left-wing and social-democratic party in Turkey - but it is also a Turkish nationalist party based on the fundamentals of Kemalist Ideology. Its symbol is the Six Arrows, which represents the six principles of Atatürk.
History
The Kemalist movement which was responsible for the founding of the CHP as a political party in Turkey first arose in 1920, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's first President and Prime Minister, created a political party - the social-democratic, republican, and Turkish nationalist Association of the Defence of the Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia - which won a majority in the first elected Turkish parliament of 1920. After the end of the War of Independence with a Turkish victory against the invading Greeks, Kemal re-styled the Association into the People's Party (in Turkish - Halk Partisi, PP), a party with the same ideology. In 1924, President Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) for the last time changed his Kemalist political party into the Republican People's Party (in Turkish Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, or RPP/CHP).
The Republican People's Party was founded on 9 September 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as noted. President Mustafa Kemal, who became Turkey's first president and prime minister, radically reformed all of Turkey's life (often by force) - making it into a secular state. But Turkey was certainly not democratic - as CHP was the only legal party from 1924 through Atatürk's death in 1938 and in fact until after the end of World War II, when Turkey became a multi-party democracy in 1950.
The CHP's main electoral rival was the Democratic Party — a mildly conservative party made up of many who were unhappy with the policies of Atatürk. Amongst this group were religious Muslims who had seen the call to prayer banned in Arabic, the Arabic script abolished (thus making the reading of almost all books of Turkish history impossible as since the 10th Century the Turks had used the Arabic alphabet) along with Islamic dress and democrats unhappy with a one party system.
The DP lost Turkey's first democratic multi-party elections in 1946 and won second democratic elections in 1950, being the ruling party in Turkey from 1950 to 1960 (one of the first things they did was to allow the Arabic ezan or call to prayer which was allowed to be read aloud in Turkish by Atatürk and the CHP, but even when rule under prime minister Adnan Menderes becomes increasingly authoritarian (corruption also became rife during the last years of Adnan Menderes' rule) - the CHP kept up its role as opposition party. In 1960 - the army staged a coup, Adnan Menderes was hung and CHP was restored to power the following year under President İsmet İnönü - who resigned in 1965 following desertion by the CHP, which lost confidence in him.
Süleyman Demirel became prime minister in the late 1960's, and because he was the leader of the AP (= Justice Party, established after banning of DP), he continued in the tradition of Adnan Menderes gaining a large amount of support from both the religious and democrats.
In 1971, the CHP-backed army brought down the AP government of Süleyman Demirel, and, in 1973, following some interim governments, the CHP was restored to power under Bülent Ecevit.
Under Bülent Ecevit the CHP began to take on a distinct left wing role in politics and although remaining staunchly nationalist tried to implement socialism into the ideology of CHP.
In 1975, the CHP was again defeated by the Justice Party, where Demirel became prime minister again. From 1977 to 1979, the CHP was back in power with Ecevit (mostly in coalition with smaller parties including oddly enough the Islamist MSP party of Necmettin Erbakan later to be leader of the Refah Party), but in 1980, the AP returned with Demirel. The political switching between the CHP and the AP came to an end when the military performed a coup and banned all political parties.
After the 1980 military coup, the name of "Republican People's Party" and the abbreviation CHP was banned from use by the military regime. After the 1987 referendum and a legislation (in 1993) allowing the reestablishment of older parties, CHP was reestablished. The CHP never recovered from the 1980 military coup.
In 1991, since Turkey's election system had two unfair election thresholds (10 percent nationwide and 15 percent local thresholds) and since center-left is divided into two parties (SHP and DSP), social democrats and democratic left groups had little power in the parliament. Between 1991 and 1995, Turkey was ruled by the coalition of center-right DYP and center-left SHP (= Social Democratic Populist Party)(later SHP joined CHP).
Until 1998, Turkey was ruled by the center right Motherland Party (ANAP) and the True Path Party (DYP), unofficial successors of the Democrat Party. In 1995, the Islamic Welfare Party (Refah Party) step into Parliament, and the CHP seemed to have been deserted by the Turkish people, having only 10 percent nationwide support and only 49 deputies of 550. It now seemed as if the CHP had been replaced as the main left-wing party.
But the Welfare Party was banned in 1998, and during the 1990s the Democratic Left Party (DSP), led by former CHP leader Bülent Ecevit, gained popular support. (Democratic Left Party is established by Ecevit family in 1985.) In 1998, after the resignation of RP-DYP coalition following the "February 28" post-modern and soft military coup, center-right ANAP formed a coalition government with center-right DSP and the small center-right party DTP (Democratic Turkey Party), along with the support of CHP.
However, due to big scandals, corruption and some illegal actions of this coalition, CHP withdrew its support from the coalition and helped overthrow the government with the vote of "no confidence". Just before the elections of 1999, DSP formed an interim minority government with the support of DYP and ANAP; and the terrorist PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is captured in Kenya under the Ecevit rule.
Therefore in the elections of 1999, all nationalist and left votes have switched to DSP and CHP failed to pass the 10 percent threshold (8.7 percent vote), winning no seats in Parliament - and things didn't look good for it after the creation of the moderate Islamic conservative Justice and Development Party in 2001.
The political coalitions which ruled Turkey from the center right ANAP and DYP to the center left DSP were increasingly making the country unstable. The Islamists returned with a new party the Fazilet (which was also later banned) while MHP the far right nationalist party had began to take advantage of the disillusionment felt by former supporters of the Refah Party and the ever bickering ANAP and DYP.
Finally a coalition was formed (generally assumed under the force of hand of the army) between DSP-ANAP-MHP it was doomed to fail and a seemingly unimportant argument between Bülent Ecevit and Ahmet Necdet Sezer the president sent the Turkish stock markets into freefall, a political crisis followed causing the collapse of the coalition and elections to be held. (Actually the economic crisis was a result of the endless corruptions for which ANAP, DYP, DSP, RP, and MHP are responsible, therefore the Sezer-Ecevit argument only lighted the fire.)
But in the 2002 Parliamentary elections, the CHP won 178 seats in Parliament, and only it and the AKP (Justice and Development Party) went to Parliament. The CHP became the main opposition party again and Turkey's second largest party. It had began the long road to recovery.
It must be understood however, that this had very little to do with voters supporting CHP. Many were former DSP supporters who were angry at the economic crisis that many blamed on the Ecevit government. Also many DSP and ANAP supporters left these parties for AK party as did many MHP and Fazilet (now Saadet party) members.
Many on the left are still very critical of the leadership of CHP especially Deniz Baykal who they complain is stifling the party of young blood thus turning away the young who turn either to apathy or even to vote for Ak party. While Ak party boast of a young leadership who have lived through many of the difficulties of many in Turkey CHP are seen as an 'old guard' that do not represent modern Turkey
Despite this recovery, since the dramatic General Election of 2002, the CHP has been racked by internal power struggles, and has been outclassed by the AKP government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the local elections of 2004, its overall share of the vote held, largely through mopping up anti-Erdoğan votes among former supporters of smaller left-wing and secular right-wing parties, but was badly beaten by the AKP across the country, losing strongholds such as the staunchly secular holiday city of Antalya.
Much of the blame was put on the leader of CHP Deniz Baykal. After the local elections CHP was racked by defections of several key members of the party all claiming a lack of democratic structure within the party and the incresing authoritarian way in which Deniz Baykal runs the party. Even those who support Deniz Baykal would admit that the party would be much more successful with a different leader.
Other Information
The CHP have their strongest levels of support among secular Turks who see it as an opposition to Islamist policies and a defender of the principles of Atatürk (although much of Atatürk's policies have been abandoned by CHP over the years)
CHP's strength is particularly strongly felt in secular regions in Thrace, and the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, among the upper middle class, civil service and military élites (CHP have traditionaly considered themselves to be the 'party of the army' and have often called upon the army or threatened opposition with the army to seize power (hardly an advertisement for democracy) and among certain religious minorities such as the Alevi, Christians and Jews. The latter two groups and business have moved to the CHP more in recent years, with the rise of the democratic Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and weakening of the secular right-wing. Ak party for their part, have been keen to reach out to minorities living within Turkey they were even going to stand an Armenian businessman in local elections in Kadikoy they have also moved to have the Alevi faith taught in schools. While they argue that they represent all of Turkey and so see no reason why they should be exclusively an 'Islamic' party there is no doubt that moves they hope will eat away further at support for CHP.
The party is also hampered by tensions between its internationalist social-democratic and nationalist étatist wings.
The party's logo is the white "Six Arrows" on a red background.
On domestic policy, the party is left-wing, social-democratic, and nationalist.
See Also
- Politics of Turkey
- List of political parties in Turkey
- Kemal Atatürk
- İsmet İnönü
- Deniz Baykal
- Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
- Kemalist Ideology
