Great Turkey Party ( tr, Büyük Türkiye Partisi, BTP) was a short lived Turkish political party in 1983.

Background

After the coup of 1980, all political parties were closed by the military rule (so called

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

or tr, MGK) regardless of their political views, on 16 October 1981. For approximately one and a half years, there were no political parties. Finally, MGK decided to allow the formation of new parties with severe restrictions. According to instructions, the new parties were not allowed to use the names of the former parties and former politicians were not allowed to be the charter member of the new parties.

Formation of party

Great Turkey Party was planned by the followers of the ex Justice Party (AP) of Turkey, which was the governing party before the coup. Although Justice Party leader

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...

was politically banned, the proposed party immediately came to be known as Demirel's party. Because some of his close friends (like

Hüsamettin Cindoruk Ahmet Hüsamettin Cindoruk (born 8 June 1933) is a Turkish politician and the 17th Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey between 1991 and 1995. He was also the acting president of Turkey in 1993 and the leader of two political parties, notably o ...

) were among the founders. Moreover, the ''Great Turkey'' phrase in the name of the party was Demirel's political slogan in his former election rallies. The leader of the party was Fethi Esener, a retired major general. He founded the party on 21 May.''Türkiye'nin 75 yılı'', Tempo, 1998 Immediately two waves of ex-Justice Party MPs entered the party; first a group of 134 and then another group of 33.

End of the party

BTP created sensation and it was obvious that, BTP was going to be one of the two major parties after the election. But, on 1 June, MGK closed the party. Some of the prominent party members as well as Süleyman Demirel himself were temporarily taken into custody in a camp named

Zincirbozan Zincirbozan is a location in Çanakkale Province, Turkey, notable because of its fame as the compulsory residence of politicians in 1983. Zincirbozan is situated in Çardak, Çanakkale, Çardak belde of Lapseki ilçe (district) facing the Sea of Ma ...

. (Some of ex

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

(CHP) members such as

Deniz Baykal Deniz Baykal (born 20 July 1938) is a Turkish politician at the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, abbreviated CHP) who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in ...

were also taken into custody.)

Aftermath

The next party formed by Justice Part followers was True Path Party (DYP). Although DYP was not allowed to enter the 1983 elections, it eventually became the governing party in 1991 and Süleyman Demirel became the prime minister (and later the president) of

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

References

{{Historical parties in Turkey Defunct political parties in Turkey Political parties established in 1983 1983 establishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 1983 1983 disestablishments in Turkey