Liberty Party () was a former political party 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 ...

founded in 1955.

Background

Democrat Party (DP) won the 1950 elections and ended the one party era of Turkey. DP, being a moderately right wing party had promised a freer press and wider scope of basic liberties during the election campaign. But following the 1950 and 1954 victories, the press was disappointed. Because DP government refused to expand press freedom and the press faced the threat of censorship. However the decision of the government was not shared by all parliament members of DP and 11 MPs proposed a law to expand the press freedom in 1955. But the reaction of the party leaders was harsh and the 9 MPs were expelled from the party.

The history of Liberty Party

The expelled MPs together with 19 MP supporters founded the Liberty Party on 20 December 1955. The leaders of the Party were Ekrem Hayri Üstündağ and

Fevzi Lütfi Karaosmanoğlu Fevzi Lütfi Karaosmanoğlu (1900–1978) was a Turkish landowner, politician, writer and journalist. He was a member of the Parliament for three times in the 1950s and in the early 1960s. He briefly served as the minister of state and minister ...

. ( Ekrem Alican who would be the leader of New Turkey Parti in 1961 was also a charter member) In the period 1956–1957 the general secretary of the party was

Şerif Mardin Şerif Mardin (1927 – 6 September 2017) was a prominent Turkish sociologist, political scientist, academic and thinker. In a 2008 publication, he was referred to as the "doyen of Turkish sociology." Early life and education He was born in Ista ...

. The party managed to send only four MPs to parliament in the 1957 general elections (all from

Burdur Province Burdur Province () is a province of Turkey, located in the southwest and bordering Muğla and Antalya to the south, Denizli to the west, Afyon to the north, and Isparta to the east. Its area is 7,175 km2, and its population is 273,799 (202 ...

). One of these was Fethi Çelikbaş an ex-state minister. During the congress held on 24 November 1958 the party dissolved itself. Most of the sympathizers as well as Fethi Çelikbaş joined

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 ...

, the main opposition party of the period. One of the supporters of the Liberty Party was the ''

Forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

'' magazine which was started by Aydın and Nilüfer Yalçın in 1954.

References

{{Authority control Political parties established in 1955 1955 establishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 1958 1958 disestablishments in Turkey