The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a
Kemalist and
social-democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...
political party in Turkey which currently stands as
the main opposition party.
It is also the oldest
political party in Turkey, founded by
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the
first president and
founder of the modern Turkish Republic. The party is also cited as the founding party of modern Turkey. The CHP describes itself as a
''modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to the founding principles and values of the Republic of Turkey".
Its logo consists of the
Six Arrows, which represent the foundational principles of
Kemalism
Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...
:
republicanism,
reformism,
laicism
Laicism refers to the policies and principles where the state plays a more active role in excluding religious visibility from the public domain.
Secularism in France has been described to be laicist in its form.
See also
* Laicization
* Seculari ...
(Laïcité/Secularism),
populism,
nationalism, and
statism
In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production.
While in use sin ...
. It is the main opposition party to the ruling conservative
Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the
Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to:
* Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania
* Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...
with 135 MPs.
The political party has its origins in the various
resistance groups founded during the
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk they united in the 1919
Sivas Congress
The Sivas Congress ( tr, Sivas Kongresi) was an assembly of the Turkish National Movement held for one week from 4 to 11 September 1919 in the city of Sivas, in central-eastern Turkey, which united delegates from all Anatolian provinces of the Ot ...
. On 9 September 1923, the "People's Party" declared itself to be a political organisation and on 29 October 1923, announced the
establishment of the Turkish Republic, with Atatürk as its first president. In 1924, the People's Party renamed itself the "Republican People's Party". As Turkey moved into
its one-party period, the CHP was the apparatus of implementing far reaching
political, cultural, social, and economic reforms in the country.
After
World War II, Atatürk's successor,
İsmet İnönü
Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three time ...
, allowed for multi-party elections, and the party initiated a
peaceful transition of power after losing the
1950 election, ending the one-party period and starting
Turkey's multi-party period. The years following the
1960 military coup saw the party gradually trend towards the center-left, which was cemented once
Bülent Ecevit
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1 ...
became chairman in 1972. The CHP, along with all other political parties of the time, was banned by the
military junta of 1980. The CHP was re-established with its original name and a more centrist outlook by
Deniz Baykal on 9 September 1992, with the participation of a majority of its members from the pre-1980 period.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (born Kemal Karabulut, 17 December 1948) is a Turkish economist, retired civil servant and social democratic politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in Tur ...
has returned the party back to its traditional centre-left position when he took over in 2011.
It is a founding party of the
Nation Alliance Nation Alliance may refer to:
* Nation Alliance (Egypt), Egyptian electoral alliance
* Nation Alliance Party, former Canadian political party
* Nation Alliance (Turkey)
The Nation Alliance ( tr, Millet İttifakı), or simply Nation ( tr, M ...
,
a coalition consisting of opposition parties like the
Good Party,
Felicity Party, and
Democrat Party against the ruling
AKP and their
People’s Alliance. In addition, CHP is an associate member of the
Party of European Socialists (PES), a member of the
Socialist International, and the
Progressive Alliance. Many politicians of CHP have declared their support for
LGBT rights and
the feminist movement in Turkey. The party continues its
Pro-European policies and commitment to
NATO.
The party's base includes the middle and upper-middle classes such as
white-collar worker
A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, ...
s, retired generals,
government bureaucrats, academics, college students, left-leaning intellectuals, labour unions such as
DİSK, and
Alevis.
The party's strongholds include the Western Aegean region (
İzmir,
Aydın
Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of ...
,
Muğla
Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the District of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a dis ...
),
Thrace, the east of the
Black Sea Region
The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop.
It is bordered by the Marmara Region to the w ...
(
Ardahan
Ardahan (, ka, არტაანი, tr, hy, Արդահան, translit=Ardahan Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.
It is the capital of Ardahan Province.
History
Ancient and medieval
Ardaha ...
and
Artvin
Artvin ( Laz and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea.
It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam. It is a former bishopric and (vacant) Arme ...
), and the Anatolian
college town of Eskişehir.
History
The Republican People's Party has its origins in the resistance organizations, known as
Defence of Rights Associations, created in the immediate aftermath of
World War I in the
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
. In the
Sivas Congress
The Sivas Congress ( tr, Sivas Kongresi) was an assembly of the Turkish National Movement held for one week from 4 to 11 September 1919 in the city of Sivas, in central-eastern Turkey, which united delegates from all Anatolian provinces of the Ot ...
,
Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) and his colleagues united the Defence of Rights Associations into the
Association for the Defence of National Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia (''Anadolu ve Rumeli Müdâfaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti'') (ADNRAR), and called for elections in the
Ottoman Empire to elect representatives associated with the organization to the
Commmittee of Representation. The Committee of Representation soon moved to
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...
and formed the
Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to:
* Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania
* Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...
as a counter parliament from the
Ottoman government
The Ottoman Empire developed over the years as a despotism with the Sultan as the supreme ruler of a centralized government that had an effective control of its provinces, officials and inhabitants. Wealth and rank could be inherited but were j ...
in Istanbul. Grand National Assembly forces militarily defeated
Greece,
France, and
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, overthrew the Ottoman government, and
abolished the monarchy. After the
1923 election, ADNRAR was transformed into a political party called the People's Party (''Halk Fırkası''). Because of the unanimity of the new parliament, the
republic was proclaimed, the
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the confl ...
was ratified, and the
Caliphate was abolished the next year.
In 1924, opposition to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk resulted in the foundation of the
Progressive Republican Party (TCF). Reacting to the foundation of the TCF, his People's Party changed its name to the Republican People's Party (''Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası'', soon ''Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi'') (CHP). The life of the TCF was short. The TCF faced allegations of involvement in the
Sheikh Said rebellion and for conspiring with members of the
Committee of Union and Progress
The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقهسی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...
to assassinate Atatürk in the
İzmir Affair. Because of this, it was closed on 5 June by the government. From 1925 until 1946,
Turkey was under one-party rule, with one interruption; another brief experiment of opposition politics through the formation of the
Liberal Republican Party.
In the period of 1925–1930, the CHP
introduced sweeping reforms transforming Turkey into a modern state. In the period of 1930–1939, Atatürk's CHP clarified its ideology by adopting the '
Six Arrows', as well as borrowing tenants from
Communism and
Fascism. It was during the one-party period that
Inspectorates-General,
Independence Tribunal
An Independence Tribunal ( tr, İstiklâl Mahkemesi, plural ''İstiklâl Mahkemeleri'') was a court invested with superior authority and the first were established in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence in order to prosecute those who we ...
s, and military force were employed by Atatürk to suppress opposition to his
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
reforms, at the expense of
religious conservatives and
Kurds. In the parties third convention, the party clarified their approach towards the religious minorities of the
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
and the
Jews, accepting them as real Turks as long as they adhere to the national ideal and use the
Turkish language. On 12 November 1938, the day after
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's death, his ally
İsmet İnönü
Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three time ...
was elected the second president
and assumed leadership of the Republican People's Party. İnönü's presidency saw the annexation of the
Hatay State
Hatay State ( tr, Hatay Devleti; french: État du Hatay; ar , دولة هاتاي ''Dawlat Hatāy''), also known informally as the Republic of Hatay ( ar , جمهورية هاتاي ''Jumhūriyya Hatāy''), was a transitional political entity t ...
and the establishment of
Village Institutes
Village Institutes ( Turkish: ''Köy Enstitüleri'') were a group of rural schools in Turkey founded in accordance with a project led by Hasan Âli Yücel, who was the Minister of Education at the time. The project started on April 17, 1940 in o ...
. İnönü adopted a policy of neutrality despite attempts by the
Allies and
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were N ...
to bring Turkey into
World War II. The party was associated with
anti-communism
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
.
In the aftermath of World War II, İnönü called for a
multi-party general election in 1946 – the first multi-party election in the country's history. The
Motion with Four Signatures
Motion with four signatures ( tr, Dörtlü takrir) is an important milestone in the parliamentary history of Turkey.
Background
The Turkish Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923. However the Republican People's Party (CHP) was the only party ...
resulted in the resignation of some CHP members who then founded the
Democrat Party (DP), which challenged the party in the election. The result was a victory for the CHP, which won 395 of the 465 seats, amid criticism that the election did not live up to democratic standards. However, four years later, a more free and fair general election was held in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
that led to the CHP losing power to the DP. İnönü presided over a
peaceful transition of power. The 1950 election marked the end of the CHP's last majority government. The party has not been able to regain a parliamentary majority in any subsequent election since.
Due to the
winner-take-all system in place during the 1950s, the DP achieved landslide victories in elections that were reasonably close, meaning the CHP was in opposition for 10 years. In its ninth congress in 1951, the
youth branch and the women's branch were founded. In 1953, the establishment of trade unions and vocational chambers was proposed, and the right to strike for workers was added to the party program. The Democrat Party was abolished after the
1960 military coup, and Prime Minister
Adnan Menderes
Adnan Menderes (; 1899 – 17 September 1961) was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He ...
, Foreign Minister
Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, and Finance Minister
Hasan Polatkan
Hasan Polatkan (1915 – 16 September 1961) was a Turkish politician and Minister of Labor and Finance, who was executed by hanging after the coup d'état in 1960 along with two other cabinet members.
Early years
He was born 1915 in Eski� ...
were hanged in the
İmralı island prison. Right-wing parties have since continuously attacked the CHP for their perceived involvement in the hanging of Adnan Menderes.
With electoral law reform implementing proportional representation, the CHP emerged as the first-placed party at the
general election of 1961, and formed a
grand coalition with the
Justice Party, a successor-party to the Democrat Party. This was the
first coalition government in Turkey, which endured for seven-months. İnönü was able to form two more governments with other parties until the
1965 election.
Bülent Ecevit
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1 ...
, leader of the
Democratic Left movement in the CHP, contributed to the party adopting the
Left of Centre
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
(''Ortanın solu'') programme for that election. İnönü remained as opposition leader and the leader of the CHP until 8 May 1972, when he was overthrown as party leader by Ecevit in a party congress. Ecevit adopted a distinct
left wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
role in politics and, although remaining staunchly nationalist, attempted to implement
democratic socialism into the ideology of CHP. Support for the party increased when Ecevit became prime minister in 1974 and
invaded Cyprus. The CHP achieved its best ever result in a free and fair multi-party election under Ecevit, when in
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...
, the party received 41% of the vote. The 1970s featured constant changes in government between the CHP and the Justice Party, as well as
intense political violence. This resulted in a
military coup in 1980, and the banning of every political party in the aftermath.
After the 1980 military coup, pre-1980 politicians were imprisoned and banned from politics, and both the name "Republican People's Party" and the abbreviation of "CHP" were banned. Until 1999, Turkey was ruled by the
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and me ...
Motherland Party (ANAP) and the
True Path Party
The True Path Party ( tr, Doğru Yol Partisi, DYP) was a centre-right political party in Turkey, active from 1983 to 2007. For most of its history, the party's central figure was Süleyman Demirel, a former Prime Minister of Turkey who previously ...
(DYP), unofficial successors of the Democrat Party and the Justice Party, as well as, briefly, by the
Islamic Welfare Party
The Welfare Party ( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and Nationa ...
. CHP supporters also established successor parties. By 1985,
Erdal İnönü
Erdal İnönü (6 June 1926 – 31 October 2007) was a Turkish theoretical physicist and politician, who served as the interim Prime Minister of Turkey between 16 May and 25 June 1993. He also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from ...
, İsmet İnönü's son, consolidated two successor parties to form the
Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), while the
Democratic Left Party ( tr, Demokratik Sol Parti, DSP) was formed by
Rahşan Ecevit
Rahşan Ecevit (''née'' Aral, 17 December 1923 – 17 January 2020) was a Turkish author, painter and politician. She was the second lady of Turkey four times during her husband Bülent Ecevit's prime ministries.
Biography
She was born in Bu ...
, Bülent Ecevit's wife (Bülent Ecevit took over the DSP in 1987). After the ban on pre-1980 politicians was lifted in 1987,
Deniz Baykal refounded the CHP in 1992, and the SHP merged with the party in 1995. However, Ecevit's DSP remained separate, and to this day has not merged with the reformed Republican People's Party. While Baykal's CHP was more centrist compared to Ecevit's DSP, observers noted that the two parties held similar ideologies and split the Kemalist vote. From 1991 to 1996, the SHP and then the CHP were in coalition governments with the DYP. The CHP supported
Mesut Yılmaz
Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz () (6 November 1947 – 30 October 2020) was a Turkish politician. He was the leader of the Motherland Party ( tr, Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) from 1991 to 2002, and served three times as Prime Minister of Turkey. His first two p ...
's
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
after the collapse of the
Welfare-DYP coalition following the
28 February "post-modern coup." However, due to the
Türkbank scandal, the CHP withdrew its support and helped depose the government with a
no confidence vote
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
. Ecevit's DSP formed an interim-government, during which the
PKK
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 ...
leader
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Öcalan was based in Syria from ...
was captured in
Kenya. As such, in the
election of 1999, the DSP benefited massively in the polls at the expense of CHP, and the party failed to exceed the 10% threshold (8.7% vote), not winning any seats.
In the
2002 general election, the CHP came back with 20% of the vote but 32% of the seats in parliament, as only it and the new
AKP (Justice and Development Party) received above the 10% threshold to enter parliament. With the collapse of DSP, CHP has been Turkey's main Kemalist and center-left party. It also became the second largest party and the main opposition party, a position it has retained since. Since the dramatic 2002 election, the CHP has been racked by internal power struggles, and has been outclassed by the AKP governments of
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to ...
. Many on the left were critical of the leadership of CHP, especially Baykal, who they complained was stifling the party of young blood by turning away the young who turn either to apathy or even vote for the AKP. Between 2002 and 2010, Turkey held three general elections and two local elections, all of which the CHP received between 18-23% of the vote. On 10 May 2010, Deniz Baykal announced his resignation as leader of the Republican People's Party after a clandestinely made video tape of him sitting on a bed with a woman was leaked to the media.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (born Kemal Karabulut, 17 December 1948) is a Turkish economist, retired civil servant and social democratic politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in Tur ...
was
elected to be the new party leader, and returned the party back to its traditional centre-left position. However even with Kılıçdaroğlu at the helm, after four general elections the CHP has still not won an election, receiving between only 22 and 26% of the vote in parliamentary elections. CHP and
MHP's joint candidate for the
2014 presidential election Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
Ekmeleddin Mehmet İhsanoğlu (; born 26 December 1943) is a Turkish academic, diplomat and politician who was Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 2004 to 2014. He is also an author and editor of academic jour ...
lost to Erdoğan with only 38% of the vote.
In the
2018 general election the CHP,
Good Party,
Felicity, and
Democrat Party established the
Nation Alliance Nation Alliance may refer to:
* Nation Alliance (Egypt), Egyptian electoral alliance
* Nation Alliance Party, former Canadian political party
* Nation Alliance (Turkey)
The Nation Alliance ( tr, Millet İttifakı), or simply Nation ( tr, M ...
to challenge the AKP and MHP's
People's Alliance. Though CHP's vote was reduced to 22%, strategic voting for the other parties yielded the alliance 33% of the vote. Their candidate for president:
Muharrem İnce
Muharrem İnce (born 4 May 1964) is a Turkish physics teacher, school principal, sport executive, and politician. He founded and is leader of the Homeland Party since May 2021. Formerly a four term Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet ...
, received only 30% of the vote. The Nation Alliance was re-established for the
2019 local elections, which saw great gains for the CHP, capturing nearly 30% of the electorate and the municipal mayoralties of
İstanbul and
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...
. Some consider their new respective mayors
Ekrem İmamoğlu
Ekrem İmamoğlu (; born 4 June 1970) is a Turkish businessman, real estate developer, and politician serving as the 32nd Mayor of Istanbul. He was first elected with 4.1 million votes and won with a margin of 13,000 votes against his AKP opponen ...
and
Mansur Yavaş
Mansur Yavaş (; born 23 May 1955) is a Turkish lawyer and politician who is currently the Mayor of Ankara, holding the office since April 2019. He was elected in the 2019 local election as the candidate of the Nation Alliance, an opposition all ...
possible candidates for the upcoming
2023 presidential election. Kılıçdaroğlu and his counterpart in the Good Party
Meral Akşener
Meral Akşener (née Gürer, ; born 18 July 1956) is a Turkish politician, teacher, historian and academic. She served as Minister of the Interior and was a vice-speaker of the Grand National Assembly. She also founded and is leader of the Good ...
continue a close cooperation as leaders of opposition parties, and the two parties are gaining in the polls due to the ongoing
economic crisis and government mismanagement of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Electorate
The Republican People's Party is a
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
political party that draws its support from professional middle-class
secular and liberally religious voters. It has traditional ties to the middle and upper-middle classes such as
white-collar worker
A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, ...
s, retired generals, and
government bureaucrats as well as academics, college students, left-leaning intellectuals and labour unions such as
DİSK.
The distance between the party administration and many leftist grassroots, especially left-oriented
Kurdish voters, contributed to the party's shift away from the political left. Leftists still criticize the party's continuous opposition to the removal of
Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which caused people to be prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" including
Elif Şafak
Elif Shafak ( tr, Elif Şafak, ; born 25 October 1971) is a Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, political scientist and activist.
Shafak writes in Turkish and English, and has published 19 works. She is best known for her no ...
and
Nobel Prize winner author
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three lan ...
, its conviction of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, its attitude towards
minorities in Turkey, as well as its
Cyprus policy.
The CHP draws much of their support from voters of big cities and coastal regions. The party's strongholds are the west of the
Aegean Region
The Aegean Region () is one of the 7 geographical regions of Turkey. The largest city in the region is İzmir. Other big cities are Manisa, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya.
Located in western Turkey, it is bordered b ...
(
İzmir,
Aydın
Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of ...
,
Muğla
Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the District of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a dis ...
), the northwest of the
Marmara Region (
Turkish Thrace
East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( tr, Doğu Trakya or simply ''Trakya''; el, Ανατολική Θράκη, ''Anatoliki Thraki''; bg, Източна Тракия, ''Iztochna Trakiya''), also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the pa ...
;
Edirne
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...
,
Kırklareli,
Tekirdağ,
Çanakkale), the east of the
Black Sea Region
The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop.
It is bordered by the Marmara Region to the w ...
(
Ardahan
Ardahan (, ka, არტაანი, tr, hy, Արդահան, translit=Ardahan Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.
It is the capital of Ardahan Province.
History
Ancient and medieval
Ardaha ...
and
Artvin
Artvin ( Laz and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea.
It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam. It is a former bishopric and (vacant) Arme ...
), and the Anatolian
college town of Eskişehir.
The party also appeals to minority groups such as
Alevis. According to ''
The Economist'', "to the dismay of its own leadership the CHP’s core constituency, as well as most of its MPs, are Alevis."
The party's leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, is also an Alevi himself.
The party holds a significant position in the
Socialist International,
Progressive Alliance and is an associate member of the
Party of European Socialists. In 2014 the CHP urged the Socialist International to accept the
Republican Turkish Party of
Northern Cyprus as an full member.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
The COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ().
The first case in Turkey was recorded on 11 March, when a local returned home ...
and the
current economic crisis, polls indicate the party and its alliance has been seeing increasing support, especially among youth.
Internal caucuses
CHP has several internal caucuses.
*Kılıçdaroğlu group ''(Kılıçdaroğlu grubu)'', a caucus that is in favor of
Nation Alliance Nation Alliance may refer to:
* Nation Alliance (Egypt), Egyptian electoral alliance
* Nation Alliance Party, former Canadian political party
* Nation Alliance (Turkey)
The Nation Alliance ( tr, Millet İttifakı), or simply Nation ( tr, M ...
and leadership of
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (born Kemal Karabulut, 17 December 1948) is a Turkish economist, retired civil servant and social democratic politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in Tur ...
.
*10 December Movement ''(10 Aralık Hareketi)'', a caucus founded by former
DİSK secretary Süleyman Çelebi to create an alternative "new party". It defends
social democracy and
federalism, while opposing
Kemalism
Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...
and
unitarism within the party. They have included
ÖDP, SHP,
DSP and independent left candidates in their tickets.
*İnce group ''(İnce grubu)'', a caucus that endorsed
Muharrem İnce
Muharrem İnce (born 4 May 1964) is a Turkish physics teacher, school principal, sport executive, and politician. He founded and is leader of the Homeland Party since May 2021. Formerly a four term Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet ...
's presidential candidacy and opposition within the party. It includes
Kemalist and
''Ulusalcı'' circles. In 2021 Muharrem İnce broke away from the CHP, and founded the
Homeland Party.
*Baykal group ''(Baykal grubu)'', a caucus that is founded by names loyal to
Deniz Baykal. It lost its significance due to Baykal's stagnating health.
*Left Wing for the Future ''(Gelecek İçin Sol Kanat)'', a
left-populist caucus that aims to build "
new left politics" within the party. It includes
social democrat
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...
and
democratic socialist
Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...
groups within, and integrates ideas like
participatory democracy,
anti-militarism
Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First International, First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine t ...
and
anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
to mainstream republicanism. On 1 July 2021, We for the Future group decided to merge with another internal caucus, the 'Left Wing'. The name of the new group has been announced as 'Left Wing for the Future'.
*Youth group ''(Gençler grubu)'', the caucus that is founded by young central committee members to target the youth. It pushes a
centrist agenda within the party.
Historical leaders
Election results
General elections
Presidential elections
Senate elections
Local elections
See also
*
Independent Group (Turkey)
Independent Group ( tr, Müstakil Grup) was an opposition group in the Turkish parliament between 1939-1946.
Backgrounds
After the Turkish Republic was proclaimed in 1923 by Atatürk and members of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the CHP bec ...
*
List of political parties in Turkey
*
SODEP
The Social Democracy Party ( tr, Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi, SODEP) of Turkey was one of the two main parties of Turkey in early 1980s but later on merged with the People's Party to form the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1985.
Ideolo ...
* ''
Ulus
Ulus may refer to:
Places
* Ulus, Bartın, a district in Bartin Province, Turkey
*Ulus, Ankara, an important quarter in central Ankara, Turkey
** Ulus (Ankara Metro), an underground station of the Ankara Metro
Other uses
* ''Ulus'' (newspaper), a ...
''
*
The Six Arrows
The Six Arrows (Turkish: ''Altı Ok'') is the symbol and flag of the Turkish Republican People's Party (CHP). The arrows represent the fundamental pillars of Kemalism, Turkey's founding ideology. These are Republicanism, Populism, Nationalism, ...
(flag of CHP)
*
Ulusalcılık
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Political parties in Turkey
Centre-left parties
Secularism in Turkey
Social democratic parties
Socialist International
Nationalist parties in Turkey
Pro-European political parties in Turkey