United Communist Party of Turkey ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Birleşik Komünist Partisi'') 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, ...

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 ...

History

The leadership of two banned parties Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) who went to exile after the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum. During ...

announced on 8 October 1987 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

that they had decided to merge and form TBKP. Nihat Sargın (general secretary of TİP) and Yaşar Nabi Yağcı (Haydar Kutlu) (general secretary of TKP) returned to Turkey from exile in Europe with the stated aim to set up TBKP legally. However, they were promptly arrested and imprisoned. In 1988, it was announced that the merger was carried out and TBKP formed in a clandestine congress. In 1989, several leading members of (clandestine) TBKP publicly disclosed their identity as TBKP leaders and members and stated the party's intention to operate legally. In 1990, Sargın and Yağcı were released from prison after a 19-days hunger strike to demand freedom and right to operate legally. Sargın, Yağcı and their followers finally launched TBKP as a formal political party the same year. Chairman of TBKP was Nihat Sargın and Nabi Yağcı was the general secretary. However, the Constitutional Court banned the party in 1991, and Sargın and Yağcı were banned from holding office in any other party. The case was taken up by 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 ...

, which found that the ban violated the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Before the Court officially banned the party, TBKP had held a legal congress (the first time-ever legal congress of communists in Turkey). In this congress, a resolution was adopted overwhelmingly calling on all its members to join a project to form a broader-based socialist party, the

Socialist Unity Party The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Ma ...

(SBP), with other socialist groupings and individuals. In the following years, Socialist Unity Party itself turned into with the participation of yet other leftist groups. Finally, the party merged with the former Revolutionary Path (

Devrimci Yol Devrimci Yol (Turkish for "Revolutionary Path", shortly DEV-YOL) was a Turkish political movement (as opposed to a tightly structured organization) with many supporters in trade unions and other professional institutions.TURKEY: BACKGROUND TO D ...

) cadres to form the

Freedom and Solidarity Party The Left Party (, often written as SOL Parti) is a secular, socialist political party in Turkey. The Party was founded after the Freedom and Solidarity Party () decided to change its name to the Left Party at the 8th Extraordinary Congress held ...

(ÖDP).

References

External links

The Case of the United Communist Party of Turkey (TBKP) and others v. Turkey
{{Authority control Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights Banned communist parties in Turkey Defunct communist parties in Turkey European Court of Human Rights cases involving Turkey Political parties established in 1988 Political parties disestablished in 1991

History

See also

References

External links