Virtue Party (, FP) was an Islamist

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, ...

established on 17 December 1997 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 ...

. It was found unconstitutional by the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

and then banned on 22 June 2001 for violating the secularist articles of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. After the party's ban, the party MPs founded two sections of parties: reformist

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), headed by

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 ...

, and traditionalist

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), headed by

Recai Kutan Mehmet Recai Kutan (5 April 1930 – 7 October 2024) was a Turkish politician who was the leader of the Felicity Party (SP). Life and career Kutan graduated from ITU obtaining a degree in civil engineering in 1952. Until 1973, he worked as an ...

History

Founders of the Virtue Party were also active members of the

National Order Party National Order Party (''Millî Nizam Partisi'', MNP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey, which adopted the '' Millî Görüş'' ideology. It was the first political party of the '' Millî Görüş'' movement and also the first Islamist p ...

(MNP),

National Salvation Party The National Salvation Party (, MSP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey, founded on 11 October 1972 as the successor of the banned National Order Party (''Millî Nizam Partisi'', MNP). The party was formed by a core group of working cadres ...

(MSP) and

Welfare Party The Welfare Party (, 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 National Salvation Party ...

(RP).

Merve Kavakçı Merve is a feminine Turkish name, Turkish given name of Arabic origin. It originates from the Arabic female name Marwa (name), Marwa. It has two meanings: # Pebble # One of the two sacred hills in Mecca, Saudi Arabia between which Muslims travel bac ...

, the female elected as the MP who was banned from swearing her

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

Turkish Grand National Assembly The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

because she wore a

headscarf A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...

, was a Virtue Party member. Former party chairman

submitted a case on behalf of the party to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

, alleging infringement of Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (freedom of association) among others. In December 2005, Kutan told the court that he intended to withdraw the application, possibly influenced by the unfavourable result in ''

Leyla Şahin v. Turkey Leila (, , ) is a feminine given name primarily found in the Middle East, including all Arab countries, as well as Iran, Turkey, and Israel. In the Latin alphabet, the name is commonly spelled in multiple ways, including Leila, Layla, Laylah, ...

'' (2004), and the court struck out the case.Dilek Kurban (2008)
Strasbourg Court Jurisprudence and Human Rights in Turkey: An Overview of Litigation, Implementation and Domestic Reform

TESEV The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (, TESEV), based in Istanbul, is Turkey's leading think tank. The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) is an independent non-governmental think-tank, analyzing social, political ...

, September 2008

Footnotes

References

* Defunct political parties in Turkey Defunct far-right parties in Turkey Banned Islamist parties in Turkey Political parties established in 1997 1997 establishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in Turkey European Court of Human Rights cases involving Turkey Islamic political parties in Turkey Conservatism in Turkey {{Turkey-party-stub

History

See also

Footnotes

References