The People's Alliance (), abbreviated as PEOPLE (), is an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

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 ...

, established in February 2018 between the ruling

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 ...

(AK Party) and the formerly opposition

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 alliance was formed to contest the 2018 general election, and brings together the political parties supporting the re-election of President

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 ...

. Its main rival is the Nation Alliance, which was originally created by four opposition parties in 2018 and was re-established in 2019.

History

Background

After the failure of the 2013–2015 peace process with the PKK, the

(AK Party) and the

(MHP) closed ranks. With the support of MHP, President

succeeded on passing the constitutional referendum in April 2017, which turned

into a

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

and expanded the executive power of the

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

. Members of the MHP dissidents formed a new party, the moderate nationalist

Good Party The Good Party (Turkish language, Turkish: ''İYİ Parti'') is a Turkish nationalism, nationalist, Kemalism, Kemalist and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, established on 25 October 2017 b ...

Formation

The alliance has a joint presidential candidate, incumbent President

. Each party is expected to nominate candidates for parliament separately. On 23 October 2018, after a series of public disagreements between the AK Party and MHP, the MHP chairman

Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish people, Turkish politician, economist, former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the Far-right politics, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationa ...

formally announced that his party would no longer seek to field joint mayoral candidates in the March 2019 local elections. In response, Erdoğan stressed that the two parties were fundamentally different, and must go their separate ways on issues they disagreed on. Public disagreements focused on a general pardon for pro-MHP prisoners, as well as a court decision to annul the abolition of the Student Oath. The oath had been abolished during the

Solution process Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solutio ...

by the AK Party government in an attempt to appease the PKK, who regarded its recital as racist. The court's decision to re-establish it was strongly supported by the MHP, while opposed by the AK Party. However, both parties stressed that they didn't regard this as a dissolution of the alliance in the Turkish parliament and that the suspension of the electoral alliance for the local elections was only temporary. On March 11, 2023, HÜDA PAR leader

Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu (born 1966; Batman) is a Kurdish Turkish politician and lawyer who led the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from June 2021 on. Biography Born in 1966 in the city of Batman in the so ...

announced that it would support the People's Alliance for the 2023 Turkish general election, also stating that it would continue its talks with the Alliance for the

2023 Turkish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongside presidential elections, to elect all 600 members of the Grand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the 28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been ...

. The party will run within AKP's list. After some contradicting reports,

New Welfare Party The New Welfare Party (, YRP) is an Islamist and ultraconservative political party in Turkey, founded on 23 November 2018. The party positions itself as the successor to the Welfare Party ( Turkish: ''Refah Partisi''), which was a prominent Isla ...

joined the People's Alliance on March 24, 2023.

Composition

Founding members

Additional members

Former members

After the formation of the alliance, there was speculation in the Turkish media, as well as among prominent analysts and politicians, that other minor parties could join it before the 24 June 2018 elections. The parties most commonly mentioned as potential future members were the

Great Unity Party The Great Unity Party (, BBP) is a far-right Sunni Islamist and ultranationalist political party in Turkey. It was created on 29 January 1993 by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, who broke off from the Nationalist Task Party (predecessor of the modern ...

(BBP) and the

Felicity Party The Felicity Party (, SAADET) is an Islamism, Islamist Turkey, Turkish political party. It was founded in 2001, and mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey. It was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party (Turkey), Virtue Party ...

(SP). While the SP ruled out joining the alliance, the BBP entered talks to join. In early May 2018, the BBP ultimately joined the alliance on the lists of the AKP, while the Felicity Party instead aligned with the opposition

Nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

alliance led by 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 ...

. On 2023, both BBP and YRP contested on their own lists as part of the alliance.

Supporting parties

The

Free Cause Party The Free Cause Party (, HÜDA PAR) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist political party in Turkey. It is centered in the city of Batman, Turkey. History Roots Following the decision to end armed struggle in 2002, activists of the Hizbullah's Menzil ...

(HÜDA PAR) supported the Alliance in the

2018 Turkish presidential election Presidential elections were held in Turkey on 24 June 2018 as part of the 2018 Turkish general election, 2018 general election, alongside 2018 Turkish parliamentary election, parliamentary elections on the same day. They were the first president ...

while contesting the

2018 Turkish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 24 June 2018 as part of general elections, with presidential elections taking place on the same day. Originally scheduled for 27 October 2019, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called snap elections o ...

as a stand-alone party. The party announced that they will support the alliance in the

2023 Turkish presidential election Turkish presidential elections, Presidential elections were held in Turkey in May 2023, alongside 2023 Turkish parliamentary election, parliamentary elections, to elect a President of Turkey, president for a term of five years. Dubbed the most ...

. The HÜDA PAR and DSP will contest on the AKP's list, while the Great Turkey Party and True Path Party will not contest. After the first round of the 2023 presidential election,

Ancestral Alliance Ancestral Alliance or Ancestor Alliance (), stylized as ATA Alliance, was a right-wing electoral alliance in Turkey that was established on 11 March 2023 and consisted of the Victory Party, the Justice Party, the My Country Party and the Turkey ...

leader

Sinan Oğan Sinan Oğan (born 1 September 1967) is a Turkish politician who won a seat in the Turkish parliament in 2011 with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). He was the presidential candidate of ATA Alliance for the 2023 Turkish presidentia ...

supported the People's Alliance.

Electoral history

Parliamentary elections

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2018 establishments in Turkey Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Nationalist Movement Party Political party alliances in Turkey Right-wing politics in Turkey Turkish nationalist organizations Right-wing populism in Turkey Conservatism in Turkey