The Populist Party ( tr, Halkçı Parti, HP) was a political party in

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 ...

which was active between 1983 and 1985.

Background

After the coup of 1980, all political parties were dissolved by the military government (ruling through the

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. In 1983, the MGK decided to allow the formation of new parties with severe restrictions. The new parties were not allowed to use the names of former parties and former politicians were not allowed to be charter member of the new parties.

Formation

One of the parties banned by MGK was the Republican People's Party ( tr, CHP), the oldest party in Turkey. Supporters of the CHP including Avni Güler, Engin Aydın and Turhan Timuçin founded the People's Party as an intended successor to the CHP on 21 May 1983. The chairman of the party was

Necdet Calp Necdet Calp (September 7, 1922 – September 13, 1998) was a Turkish civil servant and politician. Early life He was born in Karamürsel ilçe of Kocaeli Province, Turkey on 7 September 1922. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, ...

, who had once been an executive assistant of late

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three tim ...

, the second president of Turkey. Although he was not a widely known name, he caused nationwide excitement in a panel discussion on TV due to his reaction to the proposal of privatization of the

İstanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Bosphorus Bridge The Bosphorus Bridge ( tr, Boğaziçi Köprüsü), known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge ( tr, 15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü) and unofficially as the First Bridge ( tr, Birinci Köprü), is one of the three suspension bridges spannin ...

Elections

The MGK banned

SODEP The Social Democracy Party ( tr, Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi, SODEP) of Turkey was one of the two main parties of Turkey in early 1980s but later on merged with the People's Party to form the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1985. Ideolo ...

, the main rival of the HP for the mantle of the CHP: as the sole heir of the CHP, the HP received 30.5 percent of the vote in the general election of 6 November 1983. The HP became the main opposition party. However this support could not be maintained in the local elections on 21 March 1984 as SODEP was now permitted to stand and the majority of the former CHP votes were redirected to SODEP. The HP had to be content with a 8.8 percent, which meant a loss of nearly 75 percent of its vote in less than five months.

Merging with SODEP

At the party's congress on 27 June 1985, Necdet Calp lost his position as chair to

Aydın Güven Gürkan Aydın Güven Gürkan (May 10, 1941 Elazığ-January 22, 2006 Istanbul) was a Turkish academic and politician. Early life He was born in Elazığ on 10 May 1941. In 1963, he graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Ankara University. ...

.Türkiye'nin 74 yılı, Tempo Yayınları, Hürgüç Gazetecilik, İstanbul, 1998 Gürkan met with

Rahşan Ecevit Rahşan Ecevit (''née'' Aral, 17 December 1923 – 17 January 2020) was a Turkish author, painter and politician. She was the second lady of Turkey four times during her husband Bülent Ecevit's prime ministries. Biography She was born in Bu ...

, who was planning to found the

DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...

party, and

Erdal İnönü Erdal İnönü (6 June 1926 – 31 October 2007) was a Turkish theoretical physicist and politician, who served as the interim Prime Minister of Turkey between 16 May and 25 June 1993. He also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from ...

, the chairman of SODEP, for a possible merger. Although Ecevit was reluctant, İnönü, who had already proposed a merger of all CHP supporters, was an enthusiastic supporter of merging the two parties. On 3 November 1985, SODEP merged with the HP. İnönü agreed to give up his seat during the merger period. The new party formed by this fusion was named the Social Democrat Populist Party ( tr, Sosyal Demokrat Halkçı Parti) with the abbreviation SHP, which resembled that of CHP and a party flag with 6 arrows which resembled that of the CHP. The abbreviation SHP should not be confused with the same abbreviation used by the similarly-named but distinct Social Democratic People's Party after 2002.

References

{{Historical parties in Turkey Defunct social democratic parties in Turkey Political parties established in 1983 1983 establishments in Turkey 1985 disestablishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 1985 Secularism in Turkey

Background

Formation

Elections

Merging with SODEP

See also

References