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Democratic Party (Turkey, historical)

Democratic Party
Demokrat Parti
President Adnan Menderes
Founder Celâl Bayar
Founded January 7, 1946 (1946-01-07)
Dissolved September 29, 1961 (1961-09-29)
Split from Republican People's Party
Succeeded by Justice Party
Headquarters Ankara, Turkey
Ideology Conservatism
Populism
Political position Centre-right
International affiliation None
Colours          Red, White

The Democratic Party (Turkish: Demokrat Parti, DP for short) was a Turkish moderately right-wing political party, and the country's third legal opposition party, after the Liberal Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası) established by Ali Fethi Okyar in 1930, and the National Development Party (Milli Kalkınma Partisi) established by Nuri Demirağ in 1945. Founded and led by Celâl Bayar, it was the first of the opposition parties to rise to power, de-seating the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) during the national elections of 1950 and ending Turkey's one party era. The party facilitated the resurgence of Islam, especially at the popular level, in Turkey.

The Democratic Party was founded in 1946 to oppose the ruling Republican People's Party, which had established the Turkish Republic and had remained in power from the founding of the Republic through 1950. Its founding members were all well-respected figures in the CHP before breaking off and establishing the Democrat Party For this reason, both political parties had ideologies rooted in Kemalism which prevented the DP from differing substantially in practice from its predecessor, although it held notable variances in platform. Additionally, the DP still had to function within the confines of the 1924 constitution established by Atatürk and the first parliament which restricted the distance they could put between themselves and the CHP.

The main differences in platform between the two lay in economic policy. While the CHP was guided by statism, the Democratic Party was more interested in privatizing state industries that had helped jump-start the Turkish Republic after World War I now that the country was no longer nascent. The Democratic Party did not repudiate the Republican People's Party's policy of Westernization, but did not pursue it with quite the same vigour. It was also less militantly secular than the Republican People's Party, and championed populism which gained it wide support among Turkey’s intelligentsia.


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