Great Union Party
|
Great Unity Party
Büyük Birlik Partisi |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Mustafa Destici |
| Founded | 29 January 1993 |
| Headquarters | Ankara, Turkey |
| Youth wing | Alperen Ocakları |
| Ideology |
Sunni Islamism Ultranationalism Turkish nationalism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| European affiliation | None |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colours | Red and white |
| Parliament: |
0 / 550
|
| Municipalities: |
20 / 2,919
|
| Website | |
| www |
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The Great Unity Party (Turkish: Büyük Birlik Partisi, BBP) or Great Union Party is a far-right Islamist and nationalist political party in Turkey, created on January 29, 1993. It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization, and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between cultural nationalism and Islamism, and separated itself from the Nationalist Task Party (MÇP), which was renamed to Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in July 1992.
Although it is claimed that the founder of the party Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu left the MHP for lack of religious convictions, this should be seen rather as a speculation as Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu rarely blamed the MHP or talked about the separation. The rift between Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and Alparslan Türkeş actually had started after 1980 Turkish coup d'état. Alparslan Türkeş defended himself in the infamous speech in which he declared "My opinions and beliefs are of the same as the generals who organized the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, yet I am in prison" speech during trials after the coup. The ideological separation started then and reached the surface after Alparslan Türkeş dismissed the Ankara headquarters of the MHP after the 1992 MHP Congress. The delegates had elected the candidate that Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu supported rather than the one Alparslan Türkeş had supported. Türkeş's dismissal, seen to show an anti-democratic approach, was the final blow to the relationship between the young clique who had suffered during the 1980 coup and were against anything anti-democratic, and the old clique which circled around Alparslan Türkeş and believed in a nationalist-socialistic way of democracy.
The party has been represented in the Parliament only via electoral coalitions with popular parties. At the 2002 legislative elections, the party won 1.1% of the popular vote and no seats; in the 2007 elections Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was elected as an independent. In 2009 local elections the BBP's candidate was elected as the new mayor of Sivas.
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Wikipedia