The Democratic People's Party ( tr, Demokratik Halk Partisi, DEHAP) was a pro- Kurdish

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 ...

Founding and political context

DEHAP was founded 24 October 1997. It was the continuation of the

People's Democracy Party People's Democracy Party ( tr, Halkın Demokrasi Partisi, HADEP) was a Kurdish population, Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003. History Bozlak's first chairmanship P ...

(HADEP), which was banned in March 2003 by 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 ...

on the grounds that it supported the

Kurdistan Workers Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

PKK). On the 26th of March, 2003, 35 Mayors who were part of the HADEP joined the DEHAP. The party had three chairmen. The party was at first presided by Veysi Aydin, who was elected on the parties first ordinary congress in January 1998. After his membership was revoked by the Turkish

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, he was replaced by Mehmet Abbasoğlu at the first extraordinary congress of the party in May 1998. In the second extraordinary party congress in June 2003,

Tuncer Bakırhan Tuncer Bakirhan (born 1970, Susuz, Kars) is a former chairman of the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) and the former Mayor of Siirt. He was dismissed from his duties as mayor by the Turkish ministry of the interior, arrested and sentenced to 1 ...

was elected its president.

Electoral results

At its last

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

in November 2002, the party won 6.2% of the popular vote, thus not reaching the 10% threshold for gaining representation 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 Cons ...

. For the local elections in March 2004, the DEHAP, together with the Labour Party (EMEP), the

Freedom and Solidarity Party The Left Party ( tr, Sol Parti, often written as SOL Parti), is a secular, socialist political party in Turkey. The Party was founded after Freedom and Solidarity Party ( tr, Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi - ÖDP) decided to change its name ...

(ÖDP), and the

Socialist Democracy Party Socialist Democracy Party (''Sosyalist Demokrasi Partisi'', SDP) was a socialist party in Turkey. Most of its members were formerly in an opposition grouping within ÖDP, named ''Sosyalist Eylem Platformu'' (Socialist Action Platform). They def ...

(SDP), entered an electoral alliance under the name of the Social Democrat People's Party (SHP) Following the elections, 56 elected mayors returned to the DEHAP. It signed a declaration which demanded the PKK to lay down its arms together with 150 Turkish intellectuals.

Merger and dissolution

On the 17th of August, 2005, DEHAP announced its merger with the Democratic Society Movement (DTH) founded by

Leyla Zana Leyla Zana (born 3 May 1961) is a Kurdish politician from Kurdish descent. She was imprisoned for ten years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. She was awarded the 1995 Sakh ...

to form the

Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party ( tr, Demokratik Toplum Partisi, DTP, Kurdish: ''Partiya Civaka Demokratîk'', PCD) was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the So ...

(DTP).Marcus 2007, xi In November 2005, it announced that it has dissolved itself.

Footnotes

References

* * 1997 establishments in Turkey 2005 disestablishments in Turkey Democratic socialist parties in Asia Defunct Kurdish parties in Turkey Defunct socialist parties in Turkey Former member parties of the Socialist International Political parties disestablished in 2005 Political parties established in 1997 {{Turkey-party-stub