The Democratic Progress Party ( Turkish: ''Demokratik Gelişim Partisi,'' abbreviated DGP) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

which adhered to

liberal conservatism Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by lib ...

. It was founded by

Kütahya Kütahya () (historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is inhabited by some 578,640 people (2022 estimate). The region of Kütahya has ...

Member of Parliament İdris Bal on 4 November 2014. Bal had left the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) in November 2013 after Prime Minister

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 t ...

fell out with Gülen following the 2013-14 anti-government protests. Bal highlighted that the party would tackle the

democratic deficit A democratic deficit (or democracy deficit) occurs when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions (particularly governments) fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices or operation where representative and li ...

within

Turkish politics The politics of Turkey take place in the framework of a constitutional republic and presidential system, with various levels and branches of power. Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by ...

, claiming that the lack of democracy and the politicisation of the judiciary by the AKP were the two largest problems facing the country. Although he claimed that he hadn't met Gülen before forming the party, he said that he would be open to his, as well as everyone else's involvement in the party. Amongst possibilities that other MPs who had resigned from the AKP might join the DGP, Bal remains the party's only sitting MP. 12 hours after the party's formation, co-founder Fevzi Bubilik resigned and criticised the party for not being democratic enough. On 31 March 2015, DGP's leader and only MP İdris Bal resigned and left the party. He accused the media, in particular media linked with

Gülen movement The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah Ter ...

, of subjecting his party to censorship.

References

{{Historical parties in Turkey Defunct conservative parties in Turkey Political parties established in 2014 2014 establishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Turkey