Republican Reliance Party ( tr, Cumhuriyetçi Güven Partisi, CGP) was a former 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 ...

Background

The

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) which is usually credited as the founder of the Turkish Republic in 1923 was the oldest party in Turkey. The ideology of the party was

Kemalism Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...

with strong emphasis on

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...

, the secretary general of CHP after 1966 however, began introducing newer ideas. Although he didn't exclude Kemalism, he tried to transform the party into a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

party avoiding using the word ''social-democrat''. He announced that the party was situated at the left of center in

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...

( tr, Ortanın Solu). But even this announcement caused a rift in the party.

Political history

A group of the CHP MPs under the leadership of

Turhan Feyzioğlu Turhan Feyzioğlu (1922 – 24 March 1988) was a Turkish academic and a politician. Early life He was born in Kayseri. After finishing the primary school in Kayseri, he studied in Galatasaray High School and in Law school of Istanbul Universi ...

broke away from the CHP and founded the Reliance Party on 12 May 1967.''Türkiye'nin 75 yılı'', Tempo, Hürgüç Gazetecilik,İstanbul, 1988 p.195 Prominent names such as Nermin Neftçi, Coşkun Kırca, Orhan Öztrak,

Ali İhsan Göğüş Ali İhsan Göğüş (1923 – 22 July 2011) was a Turkish journalist, politician and former government minister. Life Ali İhsan Göğüş was born in Gaziantep in 1923. He completed the Kabataş High School in Istanbul, and graduated from th ...

were among the other charter members. In 1969 elections the Reliance Party received 6,6% of votes and became the third party in the parliament. On 29 January 1971, the party was renamed as the National Reliance Party. In the same year the party participated in the Technocracy government and the next year

Ferit Melen Ferit Sadi Melen (2 November 1906 – 3 September 1988) was a Turkish civil servant, politician and Prime Minister of Turkey. Biography After graduating from high school in Bursa, he obtained a degree in finance from the School of Political ...

, a member of the party became the prime minister. On 4 May 1973, the Republican Party, another party also issued from the CHP, merged to the National Reliance Party. After merging, the party was renamed as the Republican Reliance Party.

Later years

In 1973 elections, the Republican Reliance Party received 5,3% and participated in the coalition government of 1975 led by the Justice Party. The party further lost support in 1977 elections and after the coup’d etat in 1980, like all other parties in the country, the party was banned by the military rule on 16 October 1981.

References

{{Authority control Kemalist political parties Defunct political parties in Turkey Political parties established in 1967 1967 establishments in Turkey 1981 disestablishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 1981