The Great Anatolia Party ( tr, Büyük Anadolu Partisi, abbreviated as BAP and formerly abbreviated as BANAP) was a political party in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Disputes with the Motherland Party

The Great Anatolia Party was founded in 1986 as an opposition group to the dominant Motherland Party of Prime Minister

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (; 13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Mothe ...

; the founders of the Great Anatolia Party were supporters of the Right Path Party. Disputes arose quickly between the Great Anatolia Party and the Motherland Party, first about the abbreviation. Initially, the name "Great Anatolia Party" (''Büyük Anadolu Partisi'') was "BAP", but the party changed it to "BANAP". The cause for the new abbreviation was political: "BANAP" was similar to "ANAP", the abbreviation of the Motherland Party (''Anavatan Partisi''). A second dispute concerned the logo of the Great Anatolia Party, because the main elements of the logo were the map of Turkey and the

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosm ...

, just like the Motherland Party's logo. The Motherland Party protested against these cases and litigated to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

and the Supreme Electoral Council. The Constitutional Court didn't intervene, but the Supreme Electoral Council warned the Great Anatolia Party about the abbreviation and logo issues. After that, the Great Anatolia Party changed its abbreviation from "BANAP" back to "BAP" and created a new logo. The new logo consisted from a perforated drum and a jaguar leaping through the hole in the drum. These images referred to drummer Asım Ekren, who was the son-in-law of the ANAP leader Turgut Özal, while the jaguar was a reference to his Jaguar car, a gift from businessman Zeki Berberoğlu. The new logo caused the party to acquire a new nickname, "The Party of Drum Driller Jaguar" ( tr, Davulu Delen Jaguar Partisi).

1986 Turkish by-elections

In the

1986 Turkish by-elections The Turkish parliamentary by-elections of 1986 were held on 28 September 1986 in order to elect 11 Members of Parliament to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The by-elections were held as a result of the vacation of 11 seats throughout the co ...

, the party gained 13,497 votes (0.6% of 2,507,212 total votes) and failed to win a single seat in the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Const ...

Dissolving process

After the 1986 by-elections, the Great Anatolia Party dissolved. The party officially ended with a ruling of dissolution by the Constitutional Court on 24 November 1992.

References

Defunct political parties in Turkey 1986 establishments in Turkey Political parties established in 1986 Political parties disestablished in 1992 1992 disestablishments in Turkey {{Turkey-party-stub