Democratic Society Party
Encyclopedia
The Democratic Society Party ( , DTP, Kurdish
: Partiya Civaka Demokratîk, PCD) was a Kurdish
Kurdish nationalist
political party in Turkey
. The party considered itself social democratic
, and had observer status in the Socialist International
. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party
(DEHAP). On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey banned the DTP, ruling that the party has become "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country and the nation". The ban has been widely criticized both by groups within Turkey and by several international organizations. The party was succeeded by the Peace and Democracy Party
.
politicians, former deputies Leyla Zana
, Orhan Doğan
, Hatip Dicle
and Selim Sadak
upon their release from prison in 2004. The latest leader of the DTP was Ahmet Türk
.
Ahmet Türk
co-chaired the party with Aysel Tuğluk
until 9 November 2007 when they were replaced by Nurettin Demirtaş
and Emine Ayna
. However, Nurettin Demirtaş
was imprisoned the following month because of a fake health report that enabled him to avoid military service. In May 2008 Nurettin Demirtaş was forced to resign after being released from prison and conscripted into the Turkish Army
. Emine Ayna, MP for Mardin
, was elected leader of the DTP in his place.
Later in May, Ayna also became Chair of the DTP Parliamentary Group, when Ahmet Türk resigned. However, in July 2008 Ahmet Türk became, once again, chairman of the DTP.
(PKK), an armed militant organization recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU
and the USA.
It was also criticized by observers for not distancing itself from PKK's armed actions to confirm its refutations of its claimed links with the PKK. As of June 2007 report by the European Union Institute for Security Studies
stated that "It is an obvious secret that DTP is connected to PKK in a way and PKK is a terrorist group."
Fatma Kurtulan
, whose husband is an active PKK member, is one of the MPs of the Democratic Society Party.
In October 2007, in a meeting of the ambassadors of the EU
countries and the U.S. to Turkey, it was reported that the diplomats pressured the DTP to denounce the PKK as terrorist, following a DTP-sponsored conference, whose final declaration called the jailed PKK leader
, Abdullah Öcalan
, a "leader of the Kurdish people" and called for his release.
Leyla Zana
, a leading figure in the party recently made the statement: "in '99, our leader
, leader of the PKK
" which led the crowd to chant "Long Live Apo" the nickname of Öcalan. A judicial investigation was initiated over her remarks.
said in an indictment "that speeches and actions by party leaders have proved that the party has become a focal point of activities against the sovereignty of the state and indivisible unity of the country and the nation." He said prosecutors hoped the legal case would shut down the party, which he described as "based on blood and orders from the terrorist organization of the PKK". Yalcinkaya said the party should be prevented from participating in elections during the expected trial period.
The chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court to ban 221 members of the party, including eight lawmakers, from taking part in politics for five years after the closure of the party.
If the party is disbanded by the Constitutional Court, those eight legislators will be banned from the Parliament despite a warning by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(Justice and Development Party
) that excluding Kurdish lawmakers could "push them toward illegal action" and bring them closer to the rebel organization.
The AK Party itself barely escaped being dissolved in July 2008. Human Rights Watch
(HRW) has criticized the Political Parties Act, which was included in the closure case against the AK Party and may be used against the DTP. According to HRW, the evidence in the indictment against the DTP consists predominantly of nonviolent speeches and statements by party officials and deputies. Referencing the AK Party case, the Adiyaman deputy of the Republican People's Party
requested that the party not be closed, for consistency's sake.
In his party's 54-page verbal defence, president Ahmet Türk reiterated that the party was not affiliated with the PKK and suggested that the national identity
be redefined based on the concept of a shared territory, rather than on ethnicity. He noted that most of the allegations against the party were human rights issues, the most flagrant violation of which he considered to be impediments to using the Kurdish language
.
, president of the Court. Chairman Ahmet Turk and legislator Aysel Tugluk were expelled from Parliament, and they and 35 other party members were banned from joining any political party for five years.
These party members include:
Ahmet Türk
, Leyla Zana
, Aysel Tuğluk
, Hüseyin Kalkan
, Nurettin Demirtaş
, Orhan Miroğlu
.
Later the same day, the Presidency of the European Union
released a statement, expressing concern over the Turkish
court ruling, and calling upon Turkey to reform its legislation on political parties.
The decision of the Constitutional Court sparked reaction among AK Party
parliamentarians. Mir Dengir Mehmet Fırat said: "Turkey has become a graveyard for political parties that have been shut down. Closing political parties does not bring any benefit to Turkey. The Constitutional Court in its decision drew a parallel to the case of Batasuna
in Spain, but in my opinion, that example does not really apply."
Massoud Barzani
, president of Kurdistan stated "The president's office expresses its anger at the Turkish constitutional court's outlawing of the Democratic Society Party (DTP)," as hundreds of protesters gathered in Hewler, Kurdistan
.
Most of the MPs who had been in the DTP decided to join the recently formed Peace and Democracy Party
.
politics tried to find out the answers regarding these new members ability to follow the legislation sessions, such that 16 years ago same issue was happened with Leyla Zana
who claimed that Turkish was her second language and used the Kurdish
for the parliamentary oath. In 1991, the script of the parliamentary oath included words such that "I would hold my nation high." Some members of the public questioned Leyla Zana
on the grounds of which nation she had sworn to "hold high". Chairwoman Aysel Tuğluk made a statement to the press on Sunday in which she asserted, "We are here to serve our country."
is accused of heading down a dead-end street by attempting to show Kurdish people
as a minority group [autonomy of Kurdish provinces] in Turkey which DTP claimed located in that region.
On November 11, 2007, leader Nurettin Demirtaş called on political party leaders to convene a "democracy summit". Demirtaş noted his party has the will and initiative to stop bloodshed in the country. They acted as an intermediary in the release of the eight abducted soldiers. DTP members have come under intense criticism after some party members shook hands [sign of solidarity] with PKK leaders when they went to northern Iraq to mediate for the release of abducted Turkish soldiers. The DTP members did not sing Turkey's national anthem during the opening of a party conference.
The Democratic Society Party claimed that the 10% threshold of the national vote required in order to be represented in the Grand Assembly
was aimed at disqualifying it from the parliament. However, many other parties failed to cross this threshold
in the 2002 election
. The Democratic Society Party decided to have its candidates run as Independents. On 13 May DTP announced that if they wanted to, they could lock up the elections by putting in five to ten thousand independent candidates. The next day in a statement, the Supreme Election Committee responded to DTP's threat by stating that there was no issue and that they would simply use "larger envelopes".
20 DTP affiliates running as independents were elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
:
İstanbul deputy, Sebahat Tuncel, was under arrest when elected and being tried on charges of being a member of the PKK.
Hamit Geylani could not join the DTP parliamentarian group due to a former verdict of the Constitutional Court.
Akın Birdal joined DTP to enable the party reach the 20 deputy threshold to form a group.
Eight of the newly elected deputies from the party are women. The female deputies (including İstanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel) are:
At the time of 2009 local elections, DTP had mayors in 54 municipalities:
One minor municipality in each of the provinces of Adıyaman
, Aydın
, Iğdır
, Kars
, Konya
and Van
. 43 of them in seven provinces in Southeastern Turkey densely inhabited by Kurds, including the mainly Kurdish inhabited city of Diyarbakır
, where the DTP mayor is Osman Baydemir
. The party originally had five municipalities in Muş. Orhan Özer, the mayor of the minor municipality Rüstemgedik was expelled in May 2007 for practicing polygamy.
In this election on 29 March 2009, Democratic Society Party
obtained the following votes in these provinces: Erzincan
(0,53%), Erzurum
(1,24%), Kars
(14,66%), Malatya
(0,06%), Tunceli
(30%), Elazığ
(2,51%), Bingöl
(33,79%), Muş
(37,23%), Ağrı
(32,37%), Adıyaman
(5,59%), Diyarbakır
(65,27%), Siirt
(49,43%), Bitlis
(34,43%), Van
(53,54%), Şanlıurfa
(10,49%), Mardin
(36,32%) and Hakkâri or Çolamerik
(78,97%).
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
: Partiya Civaka Demokratîk, PCD) was a Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
Kurdish nationalist
Kurdish nationalism
Kurdish nationalism is the political movement that holds that the Kurdish people are a nation deserving of a sovereign homeland, Kurdistan out of the territories where Kurdish people form a majority...
political party in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The party considered itself social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
, and had observer status in the Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party
Democratic People's Party (Turkey)
Democratic People's Party was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. DEHAP was founded 24 October 1997. It was the continuation of the People's Democracy Party , which was banned in March 2003 by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it supported the Kurdistan Workers Party.At its...
(DEHAP). On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey banned the DTP, ruling that the party has become "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country and the nation". The ban has been widely criticized both by groups within Turkey and by several international organizations. The party was succeeded by the Peace and Democracy Party
Peace and Democracy Party
The Peace and Democracy Party ) is a political party in the Republic of Turkey. It succeeded the Democratic Society Party following the closure of the latter party for its alleged connections with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.The BDP has observer status in the...
.
Background
The party was founded in 2005, as the merger of the DEHAP and the Democratic Society Movement (DTH). DTH was set up by the veteran KurdishKurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
politicians, former deputies Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
, Orhan Doğan
Orhan Doğan
Orhan Doğan , was a Turkish politician, of Kurdish origin, of the Democratic Society Party.In 1974 he went to the University of Ankara to study law.In 1991 he was elected to the Turkish Parliament....
, Hatip Dicle
Hatip Dicle
Hatip Dicle , full name Mehmet Hatip Dicle, is a Turkish politician, of Kurdish origin, of the Peace and Democracy Party .In 1979 he graduated in engineering from the Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi...
and Selim Sadak
Selim Sadak
Selim Sadak, is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin, currently the mayor of Siirt.Selim Sadak graduated from the Mathematics department of Diyarbakır Eğitim Enstitüsü...
upon their release from prison in 2004. The latest leader of the DTP was Ahmet Türk
Ahmet Türk
Ahmet Türk is a Kurdish politician in Turkey. He was the chairman of the former pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey and was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP, accusing it of connection with PKK...
.
Ahmet Türk
Ahmet Türk
Ahmet Türk is a Kurdish politician in Turkey. He was the chairman of the former pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey and was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP, accusing it of connection with PKK...
co-chaired the party with Aysel Tuğluk
Aysel Tuğluk
Aysel Tuğluk is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the former Democratic Society Party in Turkey. She graduated in law from Istanbul University and then worked as a lawyer...
until 9 November 2007 when they were replaced by Nurettin Demirtaş
Nurettin Demirtaş
Nurettin Demirtaş is a contemporary Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party .He grew up and attended secondary school in Diyarbakır. He then studied business at university in Muğla, where he was arrested in 1993 for his political activities. He spent the following 12...
and Emine Ayna
Emine Ayna
Emine Ayna, is a contemporary politician in Turkey of Zaza descent.She was a member of the former Democratic Society Party . She joined the Peace and Democracy Party , after the Constitutional Court banned DTP on 11 December 2009.Emine Ayna was born in Dicle in 1968, to mother Günay and father Osman...
. However, Nurettin Demirtaş
Nurettin Demirtaş
Nurettin Demirtaş is a contemporary Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party .He grew up and attended secondary school in Diyarbakır. He then studied business at university in Muğla, where he was arrested in 1993 for his political activities. He spent the following 12...
was imprisoned the following month because of a fake health report that enabled him to avoid military service. In May 2008 Nurettin Demirtaş was forced to resign after being released from prison and conscripted into the Turkish Army
Turkish Army
The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire...
. Emine Ayna, MP for Mardin
Mardin
Mardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.-History:...
, was elected leader of the DTP in his place.
Later in May, Ayna also became Chair of the DTP Parliamentary Group, when Ahmet Türk resigned. However, in July 2008 Ahmet Türk became, once again, chairman of the DTP.
Connection with the PKK
Since its inception, the party and its leaders have faced legal problems with the Turkish government since some critics suspect the party of having ties to Party of Free Life of Kurdistan , Kurdish separatist movements and the Kurdistan Workers PartyKurdistan Workers Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...
(PKK), an armed militant organization recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the USA.
It was also criticized by observers for not distancing itself from PKK's armed actions to confirm its refutations of its claimed links with the PKK. As of June 2007 report by the European Union Institute for Security Studies
European Union Institute for Security Studies
The European Union Institute for Security Studies is a Paris-based EU agency of the Common Foreign and Security Policy . Its goals are to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe’s strategic debate.The EUISS is an autonomous agency with...
stated that "It is an obvious secret that DTP is connected to PKK in a way and PKK is a terrorist group."
Fatma Kurtulan
Fatma Kurtulan
Fatma Kurtulan , is a Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey.After graduating from Pazarcık high school, Kurtulan worked on social projects in the Küçükdikili municipality in Adana...
, whose husband is an active PKK member, is one of the MPs of the Democratic Society Party.
In October 2007, in a meeting of the ambassadors of the EU
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
countries and the U.S. to Turkey, it was reported that the diplomats pressured the DTP to denounce the PKK as terrorist, following a DTP-sponsored conference, whose final declaration called the jailed PKK leader
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
, Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
, a "leader of the Kurdish people" and called for his release.
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
, a leading figure in the party recently made the statement: "in '99, our leader
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
, leader of the PKK
Imrali
İmralı is a small Turkish island located in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of Armutlu-Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province. It served from 1999 until 2009 as a maximum-security prison island for its only inmate, Abdullah Öcalan...
" which led the crowd to chant "Long Live Apo" the nickname of Öcalan. A judicial investigation was initiated over her remarks.
2007–2008 attempt to ban
Supreme Court prosecutors asked the Constitutional Court to ban the Democratic Society Party. They allege that DTP is linked to the PKK. Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman YalcinkayaAbdurrahman Yalçinkaya
Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya was a high ranked Turkish judge and currently the Chief Public Prosecutor of the High Court of Appeals of Turkey.-Justice and Development Party closure case:...
said in an indictment "that speeches and actions by party leaders have proved that the party has become a focal point of activities against the sovereignty of the state and indivisible unity of the country and the nation." He said prosecutors hoped the legal case would shut down the party, which he described as "based on blood and orders from the terrorist organization of the PKK". Yalcinkaya said the party should be prevented from participating in elections during the expected trial period.
The chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court to ban 221 members of the party, including eight lawmakers, from taking part in politics for five years after the closure of the party.
If the party is disbanded by the Constitutional Court, those eight legislators will be banned from the Parliament despite a warning by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
(Justice and Development Party
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...
) that excluding Kurdish lawmakers could "push them toward illegal action" and bring them closer to the rebel organization.
The AK Party itself barely escaped being dissolved in July 2008. Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
(HRW) has criticized the Political Parties Act, which was included in the closure case against the AK Party and may be used against the DTP. According to HRW, the evidence in the indictment against the DTP consists predominantly of nonviolent speeches and statements by party officials and deputies. Referencing the AK Party case, the Adiyaman deputy of the Republican People's Party
Republican People's Party (Turkey)
The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...
requested that the party not be closed, for consistency's sake.
In his party's 54-page verbal defence, president Ahmet Türk reiterated that the party was not affiliated with the PKK and suggested that the national identity
National identity
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
be redefined based on the concept of a shared territory, rather than on ethnicity. He noted that most of the allegations against the party were human rights issues, the most flagrant violation of which he considered to be impediments to using the Kurdish language
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
.
2009 Disbanding
On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP, ruling that the party has become the "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country and the nation" as the party has an organic connection to the PKK. The Court declared that DTP violated Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution and the Political Parties Law. "The party became a focal point for terrorism against the indivisible integrity of the state.", stated Haşim KılıçHasim Kiliç
Haşim Kılıç is a high-ranked judge and the President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey since October 22, 2007.-Biography:Kılıç was born in Hacı Hasanlı village of Çiçekdağı district of the Kırşehir Province in Turkey. In 1968 he attended Eskişehir Academy of Economics and Commerce and...
, president of the Court. Chairman Ahmet Turk and legislator Aysel Tugluk were expelled from Parliament, and they and 35 other party members were banned from joining any political party for five years.
These party members include:
Ahmet Türk
Ahmet Türk
Ahmet Türk is a Kurdish politician in Turkey. He was the chairman of the former pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey and was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP, accusing it of connection with PKK...
, Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
, Aysel Tuğluk
Aysel Tuğluk
Aysel Tuğluk is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the former Democratic Society Party in Turkey. She graduated in law from Istanbul University and then worked as a lawyer...
, Hüseyin Kalkan
Hüseyin Kalkan
Hüseyin Kalkan was mayor of Batman in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey, and a member of the Democratic Society Party. He gained international notoriety November 2008 after he announced plans to sue Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight film, over the allegedly unauthorized use of his city's...
, Nurettin Demirtaş
Nurettin Demirtaş
Nurettin Demirtaş is a contemporary Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party .He grew up and attended secondary school in Diyarbakır. He then studied business at university in Muğla, where he was arrested in 1993 for his political activities. He spent the following 12...
, Orhan Miroğlu
Orhan Miroğlu
Orhan Miroğlu is a Turkish politician of Kurdish descent and a columnist for the Taraf daily newspaper. He is banned from politics for 5 years following the closure of the Democratic Society Party.-References:...
.
Later the same day, the Presidency of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
released a statement, expressing concern over the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
court ruling, and calling upon Turkey to reform its legislation on political parties.
The decision of the Constitutional Court sparked reaction among AK Party
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...
parliamentarians. Mir Dengir Mehmet Fırat said: "Turkey has become a graveyard for political parties that have been shut down. Closing political parties does not bring any benefit to Turkey. The Constitutional Court in its decision drew a parallel to the case of Batasuna
Batasuna
Batasuna was a Basque nationalist political party based mainly in Spain, where it was outlawed in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. Batasuna is included in the "European Union list of terrorist persons and organizations" as a component...
in Spain, but in my opinion, that example does not really apply."
Massoud Barzani
Massoud Barzani
Massoud Barzani is the current President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Barzani was born in Mahabad, Iran, during the rule of the Republic of Mahabad...
, president of Kurdistan stated "The president's office expresses its anger at the Turkish constitutional court's outlawing of the Democratic Society Party (DTP)," as hundreds of protesters gathered in Hewler, Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
.
Most of the MPs who had been in the DTP decided to join the recently formed Peace and Democracy Party
Peace and Democracy Party
The Peace and Democracy Party ) is a political party in the Republic of Turkey. It succeeded the Democratic Society Party following the closure of the latter party for its alleged connections with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.The BDP has observer status in the...
.
Pre-legislative period
On 30 July 2007, the members of the DTP as a group declared in their deputy information that "Turkish is their second language." The parliament stopped the dissemination of information regarding the deputies, until the situation cleared up. The AnkaraAnkara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
politics tried to find out the answers regarding these new members ability to follow the legislation sessions, such that 16 years ago same issue was happened with Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
who claimed that Turkish was her second language and used the Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
for the parliamentary oath. In 1991, the script of the parliamentary oath included words such that "I would hold my nation high." Some members of the public questioned Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
on the grounds of which nation she had sworn to "hold high". Chairwoman Aysel Tuğluk made a statement to the press on Sunday in which she asserted, "We are here to serve our country."
Legislative period
On November 5, 2007, inclusion of the demand for autonomy in the six Kurdish provinces in the party program. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoğanRecep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
is accused of heading down a dead-end street by attempting to show Kurdish people
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
as a minority group [autonomy of Kurdish provinces] in Turkey which DTP claimed located in that region.
On November 11, 2007, leader Nurettin Demirtaş called on political party leaders to convene a "democracy summit". Demirtaş noted his party has the will and initiative to stop bloodshed in the country. They acted as an intermediary in the release of the eight abducted soldiers. DTP members have come under intense criticism after some party members shook hands [sign of solidarity] with PKK leaders when they went to northern Iraq to mediate for the release of abducted Turkish soldiers. The DTP members did not sing Turkey's national anthem during the opening of a party conference.
The Democratic Society Party claimed that the 10% threshold of the national vote required in order to be represented in the Grand Assembly
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
was aimed at disqualifying it from the parliament. However, many other parties failed to cross this threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
in the 2002 election
Turkish general election, 2002
Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...
. The Democratic Society Party decided to have its candidates run as Independents. On 13 May DTP announced that if they wanted to, they could lock up the elections by putting in five to ten thousand independent candidates. The next day in a statement, the Supreme Election Committee responded to DTP's threat by stating that there was no issue and that they would simply use "larger envelopes".
20 DTP affiliates running as independents were elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
:
- Batman: Ayla Akat AtaAyla Akat AtaAyla Akat Ata is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Batman, Turkey....
, Bengi Yıldız - Bitlis: Mehmet Nezir Karabaş
- Diyarbakır: Aysel TuğlukAysel TuğlukAysel Tuğluk is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the former Democratic Society Party in Turkey. She graduated in law from Istanbul University and then worked as a lawyer...
, Selahattin DemirtaşSelahattin DemirtaşSelahattin Demirtaş is a Turkish-speaking pro-Kurdish politician whose parent speak Zazaki language. He became the chairman of Peace and Democracy Party in January 2010....
, Gültan KışanakGültan KışanakGültan Kışanak is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey.Graduating from Ege University, Faculty of Communication and Public Relations Department of Journalism, İzmir, she worked as a journalist for various newspapers... - Hakkâri: Hamit Geylani
- Iğdır: Pervin BuldanPervin BuldanPervin Buldan is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin. She was a member of the former Democratic Society Party in Iğdır, Eastern Turkey. She is President of Yakay-Der....
- İstanbul: Sebahat TuncelSebahat TuncelSebahat Tuncel is a Kurdish politician, women’s rights advocate, former nurse and member of Parliament in Turkey.She was born in Malatya and studied Cartography and Land Surveying in Mersin University and began her political career through the Women’s Branch of the Party of People’s Democracy in...
- Mardin: Ahmet TürkAhmet TürkAhmet Türk is a Kurdish politician in Turkey. He was the chairman of the former pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey and was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP, accusing it of connection with PKK...
, Emine AynaEmine AynaEmine Ayna, is a contemporary politician in Turkey of Zaza descent.She was a member of the former Democratic Society Party . She joined the Peace and Democracy Party , after the Constitutional Court banned DTP on 11 December 2009.Emine Ayna was born in Dicle in 1968, to mother Günay and father Osman... - Muş: Sırrı Sakık, Nuri Yaman
- Siirt: Osman Özçelik
- Şanlıurfa: İbrahim Binici
- Şırnak: Sevahir BayındırSevahir BayındırSevahir Bayındır is an Kurdish MP for the Democratic Society Party in Şırnak, Eastern Turkey....
, Hasip Kaplan - Dersîm: Şerafettin Halis
- Van: Fatma KurtulanFatma KurtulanFatma Kurtulan , is a Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey.After graduating from Pazarcık high school, Kurtulan worked on social projects in the Küçükdikili municipality in Adana...
, Özdal Uçer
İstanbul deputy, Sebahat Tuncel, was under arrest when elected and being tried on charges of being a member of the PKK.
Hamit Geylani could not join the DTP parliamentarian group due to a former verdict of the Constitutional Court.
Akın Birdal joined DTP to enable the party reach the 20 deputy threshold to form a group.
Eight of the newly elected deputies from the party are women. The female deputies (including İstanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel) are:
| Name | Province |
|---|---|
| Aysel Tuğluk Aysel Tuğluk Aysel Tuğluk is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the former Democratic Society Party in Turkey. She graduated in law from Istanbul University and then worked as a lawyer... |
Diyarbakır |
| Gültan Kışanak Gültan Kışanak Gültan Kışanak is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey.Graduating from Ege University, Faculty of Communication and Public Relations Department of Journalism, İzmir, she worked as a journalist for various newspapers... |
Diyarbakır |
| Emine Ayna Emine Ayna Emine Ayna, is a contemporary politician in Turkey of Zaza descent.She was a member of the former Democratic Society Party . She joined the Peace and Democracy Party , after the Constitutional Court banned DTP on 11 December 2009.Emine Ayna was born in Dicle in 1968, to mother Günay and father Osman... |
Mardin |
| Sevahir Bayındır Sevahir Bayındır Sevahir Bayındır is an Kurdish MP for the Democratic Society Party in Şırnak, Eastern Turkey.... |
Şırnak |
| Fatma Kurtulan Fatma Kurtulan Fatma Kurtulan , is a Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey.After graduating from Pazarcık high school, Kurtulan worked on social projects in the Küçükdikili municipality in Adana... |
Van |
| Pervin Buldan Pervin Buldan Pervin Buldan is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin. She was a member of the former Democratic Society Party in Iğdır, Eastern Turkey. She is President of Yakay-Der.... |
Iğdır |
| Ayla Akat Ata Ayla Akat Ata Ayla Akat Ata is a Zaza speaking Kurdish politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Batman, Turkey.... |
Batman |
| Sebahat Tuncel Sebahat Tuncel Sebahat Tuncel is a Kurdish politician, women’s rights advocate, former nurse and member of Parliament in Turkey.She was born in Malatya and studied Cartography and Land Surveying in Mersin University and began her political career through the Women’s Branch of the Party of People’s Democracy in... |
İstanbul |
2009 local elections
DTP currently has mayors in nine provincial capitals:| Diyarbakır Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey... (metropolitan municipality) |
65.58% |
| Batman Batman, Turkey Batman is a city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey and the capital of Batman Province. It lies on a plateau, 540 meters above sea level, near the confluence of the Batman River and the Tigris. The Batı Raman oil field, which is the largest oil field in Turkey, is located just outside... |
65.43% |
| Hakkâri Hakkari Hakkâri , is a city and the capital of the Hakkâri Province of Turkey. The name Hakkâri is derived from the Syriac word, Akkare, meaning farmers... |
78.97% |
| Iğdır Igdir Iğdır is the capital of Iğdır Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey, and borders Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran. The border with Armenia is formed by the Aras River... |
39.62% |
| Siirt Siirt - External links :* * * *... |
49.43% |
| Şırnak Sirnak Şırnak is a town in southeastern Turkey. It is the capital of Şırnak Province, a new province that split from the Hakkari province... |
53.75% |
| Tunceli | 30.00% |
| Bingol Bingöl Bingöl is a city in Eastern Turkey. It is also known as Çabakcur , which means violent water in Armenian. It is surrounded by mountains and a large number of glacier lakes, hence the name . Lately, the town has become a popular tourist destination... |
34.28% |
| Van Van, Turkey Van is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of the Kurdish-majority Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's official population in 2010 was 367,419, but many estimates put this as much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan... |
53.54% |
At the time of 2009 local elections, DTP had mayors in 54 municipalities:
| Province | # With Mayors | |
|---|---|---|
| Diyarbakır Province Diyarbakir Province Diyarbakır Province is a province in eastern Turkey. The province covers an area of 15,355 km² and the population is 1,528,958. The provincial capital is Diyarbakir... |
12 of 32 | including Diyarbakır Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey... Metropolitan Municipality, the districts of Bismil Bismil Bismil is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The population is 56,887 . The mayor is Cemile Eminoğlu .-Brief History:... , Dicle Dicle Dicle is a town and district of Diyarbakır Province, Turkey. Population is 8436 .Dicle is also the Turkish name of the Tigris river, which runs through the district and gave its name to it. The name derives through Akkadian Idiqlat from the original Sumerian name for the river, Idigna.... , Ergani Ergani Ergani, formerly known as Arghni or Arghana, is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The mayor is Fesih Yalçın .-Çayönü:Near the village of Sesverenpınar, among the Hilar rocks Çayönü hill was first settled in c. 7500 BC, and was continuously inhabited until 5000 BC... , Kocaköy Kocaköy Kocaköy is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. Population is 5764... , Lice, Silvan Silvan, Turkey Silvan is a district of the Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. Its population is 41,451 Notable attraction is Malabadi Bridge.-History:Silvan has been identified by several scholars as one of two possible locations of Tigranakert, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, which was built by... (six districts out of thirteen) and other minor municipalities. |
| Mardin Province Mardin Province Mardin Province is a province of Turkey with a population of 744,606. The population was 835,173 in 2000. The capital of the Mardin Province is Mardin... |
8 of 32 | including Dargeçit Dargeçit Dargeçit is a district of the Mardin Province of Turkey, traditionally an Assyrian/Syriac town. It had approximately 300 families in 1900. After the "Seyfo" in 1916, many were killed. It was inhabited by the Assyrians/Syriacs, Kurds and Armenians... , Derik Derik Derik , is a district of the Mardin Province in the southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It has borders with Mazıdağı, Viranşehir and Kızıltepe. The Assyrian/Syriac People formed once a majority in this district.... , Kızıltepe Kiziltepe Kızıltepe is a town in, and a district of Mardin Province of Turkey. Kızıltepe was the scene of clashes between protesting Kurds and Turkish riot police in 2006. Turks, Circassians, Kurds, Arabs make up the population.... , Mazıdağı Mazidagi Mazıdağı is a district of Mardin Province of Turkey. Today the Kurdish people form a majority in this district. The capital of the district was prior inhabited by the Assyrian/Syriac people with nomadic Kurdish tribes inhabited in its mountains... , Nusaybin among the nine districts of the province |
| Batman Province Batman Province Batman Province is a Turkish province southeast of Anatolia. The province's population exceeded 500,000 in 2010.The province is important because of its reserves and production of oil which was started in the 1940s. There is a 494-km long oil pipeline from Batman to the Turkish port of İskenderun.... |
5 of 12 | including Batman Batman, Turkey Batman is a city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey and the capital of Batman Province. It lies on a plateau, 540 meters above sea level, near the confluence of the Batman River and the Tigris. The Batı Raman oil field, which is the largest oil field in Turkey, is located just outside... city, the districts of Beşiri Besiri Beşiri is a district of Batman Province, Turkey. The mayor is Sait Karabulut .Population: ADNKS 31.649 - 2008 year... and Gercüş Gercüs Gercüş is a district of Batman Province, Turkey. The mayor is Esat Öner .... (two districts out of five) and two minor municipalities. |
| Şırnak Province Şırnak Province The Şırnak Province is a Turkish province in southeastern Anatolia. It has a population of 430,109 . The population was 353,197 in 2000.... |
5 of 20 | including Şırnak Sirnak Şırnak is a town in southeastern Turkey. It is the capital of Şırnak Province, a new province that split from the Hakkari province... city and the districts of Beytüşşebap Beytüssebap Beytüşşebap is a district of Şırnak Province of Turkey.... , Cizre Cizre Cizre is a town and district of Şırnak Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, located at the border to Syria, just to the north-west of the Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi tripoint.... , İdil Idil İdil is a district of Şırnak Province of Turkey. The predominant religion in the region is Islam, although it was once the home of many Anatolian Assyrian/Syriac Christians, who are part of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and who were speakers of the Syriac language an Aramaic dialect... , Silopi Silopi Silopi is a district of Şırnak Province in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region, close to the border with Iraq. The district, composed of Silopi center, 3 depending townships with own municipalities and 23 villages has an urban population of 73,400 .The Habur frontier gate, the only major... , among the seven of the province. |
| Muş Province Mus Province Muş Province is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km² in area, and has a population of 406,886 . The population was 453,654 in 2000. The provincial capital is the city of Muş... |
4 of 28 | including Bulanık Bulanik Bulanık is a town and district of Muş Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The current mayor is Ziya Akkaya . He is under governor Ferit Görükmez Kaymakamı.... , Malazgirt Malazgirt Malazgirt is a town in Muş Province in eastern Turkey, with a population of 23,697 .-Founding:... and Varto Varto Varto is a town in eastern Turkey occupied primarily by Kurdish people.Varto was the site of a major fighting during the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1924, and the 1966 earthquake that killed nearly 3,000 people.... among the nine districts of the province. |
| Hakkâri Province Hakkari Province Hakkâri Province is a province in the south east corner of Turkey. The administrative centre is located in the city of Hakkâri . The province covers an area of 7,121 km² and has a population of 251,302 . The province had a population of 236,581 in 2000.The province was created in 1936 out of... |
4 of 8 | including Hakkâri Hakkari Hakkâri , is a city and the capital of the Hakkâri Province of Turkey. The name Hakkâri is derived from the Syriac word, Akkare, meaning farmers... city, two districts out of three (Yüksekova Yüksekova Yüksekova is a district of Hakkari Province of Turkey, situated close to the border with Iran. Its location on the trade route between Iranian Azarbaijan and eastern Turkey made it an important juncture for travelers and the location of several ethnic groups that were active in regional trade.... and Şemdinli Semdinli Şemdinli is a district located in the Hakkari Province of southeastern Turkey.The population is 11,211 as of 2010.It was previously in the Ottoman vilayet of Van and the district centre was called Nevşehir... ), and one minor municipality. |
| Şanlıurfa Province Sanliurfa Province Şanlıurfa Province or simply Urfa Province is a province in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,663,371 .... |
4 of 26 | including Ceylanpınar Ceylanpinar Ceylanpınar is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey. On the border with Syria, it is reached by a long straight road across the plain south from Viranşehir... , Suruç Suruç Suruç is a rural district of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on a plain near the Syrian border 46 km south-west of the city of Şanlıurfa.The modern Turkish name “Suruç” is derived from Serugh , the pre-Islamic name for the area. The name literally means “woven” or “latticed,” and either refers... , Viranşehir Viransehir Viranşehir is a market town serving a cotton-growing area of Şanlıurfa Province, in southeastern Turkey, 93 km east of Şanlıurfa city and 53 km north-west of the Syrian border at Ceylanpınar... districts. |
| Siirt Province Siirt Province Siirt Province is a province of Turkey, located in the southeast. The province borders Bitlis to the north, Batman to the west, Mardin to the southwest, Şırnak to the south, and Van to the east. It has an area of 5,406 km² and a total population of 300,695... |
2 of 13 | including Kurtalan Kurtalan Kurtalan is a district of Siirt Province of Turkey.- Dış bağlantılar :* * * *... district. |
| Adana Province Adana Province Adana Province is a province of Turkey located in south-central Anatolia. With a population of 2,085,225, it is the fifth most populous province in Turkey. The administrative seat of the province is the city of Adana, home to 78% of the residents of the province... |
2 of 53 | two minor municipalities in Seyhan Seyhan Seyhan is a district in the Adana Province of Turkey. It is completely within the city of Adana and the municipality of Seyhan is a lower-tier municipality which serves to the entire district.... and Yüreğir Yüregir Yüreğir is a district in the Adana Province of Turkey. It lies east of the Seyhan River, south and west of Sarıçam and north of Yumurtalık. Large portion of the district is within the city of Adana, incorporated as a lower-tier municipality.... districts. |
| Tunceli Province Tunceli Province The Tunceli Province is a province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The province was named Dersim Province and was changed to Tunceli Province on January 4, 1936. with the "Law on Administration of the Tunceli Province" , no... |
1 of 10 | (Tunceli city). |
| Ağrı Province Agri Province The Ağrı Province is a province in eastern Turkey, bordering Iran to the east, Kars to the North, Erzurum to the Northwest, Muş and Bitlis to the Southwest, Van to the south, and Iğdır to the northeast. Area 11,376 km². Population 542,022 .... |
1 of 12 | notable district of Doğubeyazıt Dogubeyazit Doğubeyazıt is a city and district of Ağrı Province of Turkey, and is Turkey's most eastern district, the border crossing to Iran. Elevation 1625 m. Area 2.383 km². Population 115.354 of which 69.447 live in the town of Doğubeyazıt, the remainder in the surrounding countryside... . |
One minor municipality in each of the provinces of Adıyaman
Adiyaman Province
Adıyaman Province is a province in south-central Turkey. The province was created in 1954 out of part of Malatya Province. Area 7,614 km². Population 590,935 , up from 513,131 in 1990. The capital is Adıyaman....
, Aydın
Aydin Province
Aydın Province is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of approx. 150,000 . Other towns in the province include the summer seaside resorts of Didim and Kuşadası.-History:Aydın was founded by the ancient...
, Iğdır
Igdir Province
Iğdır Province is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the border with Armenia, Azerbaijan , and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the northwest and Ağrı to the west and south...
, Kars
Kars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
, Konya
Konya Province
Konya Province is a province of Turkey located in central Anatolia. The provincial capital is the city of Konya. It is the largest province by area of Turkey.-Districts:...
and Van
Van Province
Van Province is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at the end of 2010....
. 43 of them in seven provinces in Southeastern Turkey densely inhabited by Kurds, including the mainly Kurdish inhabited city of Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
, where the DTP mayor is Osman Baydemir
Osman Baydemir
Osman Baydemir is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and human rights activist in east Turkey. He is the current mayor of his home town of Diyarbakır and member of the Peace and Democracy Party .-Life and career:...
. The party originally had five municipalities in Muş. Orhan Özer, the mayor of the minor municipality Rüstemgedik was expelled in May 2007 for practicing polygamy.
In this election on 29 March 2009, Democratic Society Party
Democratic Society Party
The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...
obtained the following votes in these provinces: Erzincan
Erzincan Province
Erzincan Province is a province in the eastern region of Anatolia, Turkey, and home to Erzincan, a city which was destroyed and rebuilt after an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on December 27, 1939...
(0,53%), Erzurum
Erzurum Province
Erzurum Province is a Province of Turkey, in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the country. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to the south, Erzincan and Bayburt to the west, Rize and Artvin to the north and Ardahan to the northeast. The provincial capital is...
(1,24%), Kars
Kars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
(14,66%), Malatya
Malatya Province
Malatya Province is a province of Turkey. It is part of a larger mountainous area. The capital of the province is Malatya , which has many residents. Malatya is famous for its apricots. The area of Malatya province is 12,313 km². Malatya Province has 740,643 inhabitants. The population was...
(0,06%), Tunceli
Tunceli Province
The Tunceli Province is a province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The province was named Dersim Province and was changed to Tunceli Province on January 4, 1936. with the "Law on Administration of the Tunceli Province" , no...
(30%), Elazığ
Elazig Province
Elâzığ Province is a province of Turkey with its seat in the city of Elâzığ. The source of the Euphrates river is located in this province.The province has a population of 552,646 as of 2010...
(2,51%), Bingöl
Bingöl Province
Bingöl Province is a province of Turkey in Eastern Anatolia. The province was created in 1946 out of parts of Elazığ and Erzincan. The new province was known as Çapakçur Province until 1950. Its neighbouring provinces are Tunceli, Erzurum, Muş, Diyarbakır, Erzincan and Elazığ. The province covers...
(33,79%), Muş
Mus Province
Muş Province is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km² in area, and has a population of 406,886 . The population was 453,654 in 2000. The provincial capital is the city of Muş...
(37,23%), Ağrı
Agri Province
The Ağrı Province is a province in eastern Turkey, bordering Iran to the east, Kars to the North, Erzurum to the Northwest, Muş and Bitlis to the Southwest, Van to the south, and Iğdır to the northeast. Area 11,376 km². Population 542,022 ....
(32,37%), Adıyaman
Adiyaman Province
Adıyaman Province is a province in south-central Turkey. The province was created in 1954 out of part of Malatya Province. Area 7,614 km². Population 590,935 , up from 513,131 in 1990. The capital is Adıyaman....
(5,59%), Diyarbakır
Diyarbakir Province
Diyarbakır Province is a province in eastern Turkey. The province covers an area of 15,355 km² and the population is 1,528,958. The provincial capital is Diyarbakir...
(65,27%), Siirt
Siirt Province
Siirt Province is a province of Turkey, located in the southeast. The province borders Bitlis to the north, Batman to the west, Mardin to the southwest, Şırnak to the south, and Van to the east. It has an area of 5,406 km² and a total population of 300,695...
(49,43%), Bitlis
Bitlis Province
Bitlis Province is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van.-History:Bitlis was formed as an administrative district in the 17th Century...
(34,43%), Van
Van Province
Van Province is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at the end of 2010....
(53,54%), Şanlıurfa
Sanliurfa Province
Şanlıurfa Province or simply Urfa Province is a province in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,663,371 ....
(10,49%), Mardin
Mardin Province
Mardin Province is a province of Turkey with a population of 744,606. The population was 835,173 in 2000. The capital of the Mardin Province is Mardin...
(36,32%) and Hakkâri or Çolamerik
Hakkari Province
Hakkâri Province is a province in the south east corner of Turkey. The administrative centre is located in the city of Hakkâri . The province covers an area of 7,121 km² and has a population of 251,302 . The province had a population of 236,581 in 2000.The province was created in 1936 out of...
(78,97%).