1.
Turkish general election, 1977
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General elections were held in Turkey on 5 June 1977. Elections took place in the middle of a race between the right wing party AP and the left wing party CHP. With the charismatic leadership of Bülent Ecevit, CHP managed to beat one of the figures of the conservative politics of Turkey. Finally, CHP couldnt gain a vote of confidence and they would have to wait until 1978 to gain support from some independents and small parties to become the head of the government. CHP couldnt keep power for long and soon government control passed on to AP even as the rumblings of the coup were beginning to be felt
2.
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
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The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence. The parliament was fundamental in the efforts of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey has had a history of parliamentary government before the establishment of the current national parliament. There were two parliamentary governments during the Ottoman period in what is now Turkey, the First Constitutional Era lasted for only two years, elections being held only twice. The Second Constitutional Era is considered to have begun on 23 July 1908, freedom to hold meetings and establish political parties was recognized, and the government was held responsible to the assembly, not to the sultan. During the two eras of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman parliament was called the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire and was bicameral. The upper house was the Senate of the Ottoman Empire, the members of which were selected by the sultan, the lower chamber of the General Assembly was the Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire, the members of which were elected by the general public. After World War I, the victorious Allied Powers sought the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire through the Treaty of Sèvres, the political existence of the Turkish nation was to be completely eliminated under these plans, except for a small region. Nationalist Turkish sentiment rose in the Anatolian peninsula, engendering the establishment of the Turkish national movement, the political developments during this period have made a lasting impact which continues to affect the character of the Turkish nation. The Sultanate was abolished by the newly founded parliament in 1922 and he also stated that the members of the dispersed Ottoman Chamber of Deputies could also participate in the assembly in Ankara, to increase the representative power of the parliament. These elections were held as planned, in the style of the elections of the preceding Chamber of Deputies and this Grand National Assembly, established on national sovereignty, held its inaugural session on 23 April 1920. From this date until the end of the Turkish War of Independence in 1923, the Liberal Party was dissolved on 17 November 1930 and no further attempt at a multiparty democracy was made until 1945. The multi-party period in Turkey was resumed by the founding of the National Development Party, by Nuri Demirağ, under the constitution of 1961, the Grand National Assembly was a bicameral parliament with over 600 members, the newly established upper house being the Senate of the Republic. Following the 1980 military coup, the Senate was dissolved and the Turkish parliament again became unicameral under the current constitution approved in a referendum in 1982. To avoid a hung parliament and its political fragmentation, a party must win at least 10% of the national vote to qualify for representation in the parliament. As a result of this threshold, only two won seats in the legislature after the 2002 elections and three in 2007. The 2002 elections saw every party represented in the previous parliament ejected from the chamber and this rather high threshold has been internationally criticised, but a complaint with the European Court for Human Rights was turned down
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Republican People's Party (Turkey)
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The Republican Peoples Party is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of the Republic of Turkey and is currently the opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican Peoples Party describes itself as a modern social-democratic party, also, the party is cited as the founding party of modern Turkey. The political party was established during the Congress of Sivas in 1919 as a union of resistance groups against the invasion of Anatolia, the union represented Turkish people as a unified front during the Turkish War of Independence. On 9 September 1923, the Peoples Party officially declared itself as an organization and on October 29,1923. On 10 November 1924, the Peoples Party renamed itself to Republican Peoples Party as Turkey moved into a one-party period, during the one-party period, the CHP became the major political organisation of a one-party state. Both of which, however, were banned within a few months of their establishment by the state for veering too closely to Islamism and this experience was followed by the founding of the National Development Party by Nuri Demirağ in 1945. The current structure of the party was established within the transition to the multi-party period, after World War II, the leader of the CHP İsmet İnönü introduced democratic elections to Turkish society. Due to widespread dissatisfaction with the CHP in the four years after its victory in the first multi-party general election, celâl Bayar then replaced İnönü as President. During the interim multi-party periods in between the military coups of 1960,1971, and 1980, CHP is regarded as being social-democratic, state nationalistic and secular/laicist. The partys logo consists of the Six Arrows, which represent the principles of Kemalism, republicanism, nationalism, statism, populism, laïcité. The CHP, along all other political parties of the time, was closed down for a brief period by the military coup of 1980. An inheritor party which still participates in Turkish democratic life was established in 1984 by the name of the Democratic Left Party, created by the leader of CHP. CHP was finally re-established with its name on 9 September 1992. Nevertheless, the relationship between CHP and some trade unions, business chambers and most non-governmental organisations alienated many voters. The distance between the party administration and many leftist grassroots, especially left oriented Kurdish voters, contributed to the shift away from the political left. CHP urged the Socialist International to accept Republican Turkish Party of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an observer member, at the 2007 general election CHP ran in alliance with Democratic Left Party. CHP suffered a defeat, getting 7,300,234 votes
4.
Democratic Party (Turkey, 1970)
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Democratic Party was a former political party in Turkey founded on 18 December 1970. It should not be confused with the historical Democrat party or the current Democratic Party in Turkey, the historical Democrat Party which was the ruling party between 1950-1960 was closed by the military rule. In 1961 and 1965 elections most of ex Democratic Party adherents supported Justice Party, after 1965 elections Justice Party came to power. But following 1969 elections in which Justice Party was again successful, the conservative wing which had the support of former Democrat Party leaders, broke away from the Justice Party and founded the new Democratic Party. DP was founded on 18 December 1970, the former parliament speaker Ferruh Bozbeyli was the chairman. Saadettin Bilgiç as well as the relatives of the former Democrat Party members were among the other important MPs, the main competitors of the party were Justice Party and National Salvation Party. In the 1973 elections, the Democratic Party received 11. 9% of votes, republican Peoples Party was the winner. But CHP needed coalition partners to form the government, DP refused to form the coalition with CHP. Later in 1975 DP refused to participate in another government led by Justice Party. However, after this last decision, the big names in the party returned to Justice Party on 9 March 1975, in the 1977 election, the Democratic Party received only 1. 1% of votes. On 4 May 1980 the party dissolved itself
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