Anatolia Party
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The Anatolia Party (, abbreviated AnaParti) was a
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, ...
in
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 ...
led by
Emine Ülker Tarhan Emine Ülker Tarhan (born 29 November 1963) is a Turkish jurist and politician formerly from the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP). She was formerly a judge at the High Court of Appeals. She served as the vice spok ...
. It was founded on 14 November 2014 following Tarhan's resignation from the
Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...
(CHP) due to disillusionment with the leadership of
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (; born 17 December 1948), also referred to by his initials KK, is a Turkish politician who served as the Leader of the Republican People's Party, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from 2010 to 2023. He was Lis ...
. Its logo is composed of a rising sun with a sunflower, representing
Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
and
Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...
respectively. The party's name was subject to a legal complaint by former MP Yılmaz Hastürk, who claimed that the political parties law in Turkey forbade party names to refer to geographic regions, though a former party was named Great Anatolia Party without facing legal problems. After a disappointing result at the June 2015 general election (where the party won just 0.06% of the vote), Tarhan decided to boycott the snap general election in November. The party's performance at the June general election and the decision to boycott the November general election gave rise to inner-party arguments, resulting in the executive taking the decision to disband the party in December 2015.


Political line

The Anatolia Party has been described by Tarhan as laicist and progressive, in favour of an impartial justice system, democracy and unity. The party was created in response to the 12-year-long rule of the conservative
Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...
(AKP) and the ineffectiveness of the CHP in opposition. The founding members of the party include a range of opposition intellectuals, former CHP members and also politicians formerly aligned with the centre-left Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the conservative Motherland Party (ANAP). In March 2015, two minuscule parties, namely Party for a Turkey without Disabilities and the National Alliance Platform joined the Anatolia Party.


Background


Split from the CHP

The
Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...
(CHP) has and continues to observe a split between the Kemalists who emphasize on nationalism and laicism and those who are more tolerant to non-secular and decentralized policies. A new initiative set out by CHP leader
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (; born 17 December 1948), also referred to by his initials KK, is a Turkish politician who served as the Leader of the Republican People's Party, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from 2010 to 2023. He was Lis ...
led to the creation of a 'New CHP' (''Yeni CHP,'' abbreviated YCHP), which aimed to increase the party's appeal to the
Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...
in the south-east of the country. This led to opposition by the party's nationalist faction, and the YCHP initiative has been perceived as a failure, especially after many concerns were raised whether the party would continue to respect the principles of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
and its stance against 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 Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...
. Entering
parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in the 2011 general election as a CHP
Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
MP, Emine Ülker Tarhan was a nationalist within her party. She was seen as a potential CHP presidential candidate in the 2014 presidential election, where Kılıçdaroğlu chose to nominate former
Organisation of Islamic Co-operation The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC; ; ), formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1969. It consists of 57 member states, 48 of which are Muslim-majority. The Pew Forum on ...
secretary general
Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu Ekmeleddin Mehmet İhsanoğlu (; born 26 December 1943) is a Turkish chemistry and science history professor, academician, diplomat and politician who was Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 2004 to 2014. He i ...
instead. With strong opposition from several party members, Tarhan declared that she would not run as a rival. Several CHP MPs openly criticised the choice of candidate, with six even endorsing Tarhan for the candidacy despite her refusal to run. The election resulted in AKP candidate
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
winning in the first round with 51.79% of the vote, while İhsanoğlu won 38.44% of the vote despite being backed by 15 opposition parties including the
Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...
(MHP). The poor election result led to CHP members such as Tarhan,
Muharrem İnce Muharrem İnce (; born 4 May 1964) is a Turkish physics teacher, school principal, sport executive, and politician. He is the founder and the incumbent leader of the Homeland Party since May 2021. Formerly a four term Republican People's Party ...
and
Süheyl Batum Bedii Süheyl Batum (born 6 May 1955) is a Turkish professor of constitutional law, political scientist, columnist and Kemalist politician who had served as the Member of Parliament for Eskişehir from June 2011 to June 2015. He was the forme ...
openly calling for Kılıçdaroğlu's resignation as party leader. Kılıçdaroğlu subsequently called for an extraordinary party convention, where the party delegate system meant that Kılıçdaroğlu was re-elected comfortably against rival Muharrem İnce. This led to further disillusionment within the party, and Tarhan announced her resignation from the CHP on 31 October 2014. In her resignation letter, she criticised the lack of any potential electoral prospects in the critical June 2015 general election, the selfishness of career politicians and the ineffectiveness of the party in opposition.


Founding members

The Anatolia Party was founded on 14 November 2014, with Tarhan as leader and a 43-member executive committee with members formerly affiliated with the CHP, the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP). The list of founding members can be found here. Deputy leader Yunus Yunusoğlu claimed that the party's purpose was to not split the CHP's vote, but to win the 2015 election.


Electoral performance

An opinion poll conducted by SONAR showed the party polling 8.04% of the vote without causing a significant vote split with the CHP. It was deemed likely that if true, the majority of this support came from former non-voters. Regardless, the party still polled under the 10% threshold necessary to gain seats in parliament, and more recent polls showed the party to not command any significant support. In the event of surpassing the 10% threshold in the next general election, a triple coalition with the CHP and
Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...
(MHP) was a possible eventuality. However, the party only managed to win 0.06% of the vote in the June 2015 general election, coming 15th out of 20 parties. Tarhan subsequently lost her seat in Parliament.


Dissolution

The party was disestablished on 21 December 2015 after inner-party arguments and poor election results.


References

{{Historical parties in Turkey 2014 establishments in Turkey 2015 disestablishments in Turkey Defunct social democratic parties in Turkey Centre-left parties Political parties established in 2014 Political parties disestablished in 2015 Republicanism in Turkey Secularism in Turkey