The Democratic People's Party (, DEHAP) was a pro- Kurdish

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

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Founding and political context

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

People's Democracy Party People's Democracy Party (, HADEP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003. History Bozlak's first chairmanship Party founder and attorney Murat Bozlak was the part ...

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

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on the grounds that it supported the

Kurdistan Workers Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gu ...

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 After his membership was revoked by the Turkish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 In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. 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 was elected its president.

Electoral results

At its last

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

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

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 ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

. For the local elections in March 2004, the DEHAP, together with the Labour Party (EMEP), the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), and the Socialist Democracy Party (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 to form the Democratic Society Party (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 Kurdish nationalist political parties Defunct socialist parties in Turkey Socialist parties in Kurdistan Former member parties of the Socialist International Political parties disestablished in 2005 Political parties established in 1997 HEP tradition {{Turkey-party-stub