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Democratic Party (Turkey)

Demokrat Parti - DP

Flag of the DP - Image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 April 2014

Presentation of the DP
Flag of the DP
True Path Party (Doğru Yol Partisi - DYP)
Democrat Turkey Party (Demokrat Türkiye Partisi - DTP)

See also:

Turkey

Presentation of the DP

The Demokrat Parti (DP) was founded on 7 January 1946 in opposition to the Republican People's Party (CHP), which had founded modern Turkey after th first World War. The chairman of the party, Adnan Menderes became Prime Minister of Turkey after the 1950 elections.
As the DP didn't show enough enthusiasm to the goal of the CHP to introduce western values, it was banned on 27 May 1960 by a National Union Committee.
The party was re-established in 1992, gained however a percentage less than 1% in the 1999 campaign and joined the Motherland Party in 2009.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 April 2014

Flag of the DP

The flag of the DP (photo) is red with awhite rectangle with rounded-off corners framing the party's logo. In the centre of the logo is a white horse facing the hoist, passing on a white line. Above the horse are the white letters "DP". Beneath the line is the party's name written in white letters.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 April 2014

True Path Party

Flag of the DYP - Image by Onur Özgün, 9 August 2001

The Justice Party (Doğru Yol Partisi - DYP) was founded in 1961 as the successor of the DP. Its percentage of votes in the national elections from 1961 to 1977 was between 30% and 53%. Its chairman, Süleyman Demirel, was Prime Minister of Turkey various times (1965-1971, 1975Ð1977, and 1979-1980), before the party was banned in 1980 by Turkish military.

The True Path Party (DYP) was founded in 1983 as the successor of the AP by Süleyman Demirel. It was a moderate conservative party, part of Turkish government under Prime Ministers Süleyman Demirel (1991Ð1993) and Tansu Çiller (1993Ð1996).
At the eve of the 2007 national elections the party planned to merge with the Motherland Party. In May 2007 the DYP renamed itself to Democratic Party, referring to its predecessor, which had been founded in 1946. ANAP cancelled the merger negotiations and a group of DYP members seceded from the DP to re-established the DYP. Nevertheless the party does not play an important role in nowadays Turkey after it failed in the 2007 national elections. Their percentage of voters was less than 10% in 2007 and less than 1% in the 2011 election.

The flag of the DYP is red with a white horse with its front feet rised. The above image was redrawn after the party website.
The symbol of the horse without a saddle belongs to the DYP forerunner, the AP. When the DYP was established in 1983, it adopted a similar emblem showing a jumping horse with a rider, all white on red. The DYP adopted the present emblem during the party congress hold on 19 December 1992 when it officially merged with the re-created AP. As for the symbolism, I was told in 1990 that the horse is a national animal of the Turks and recalls traditionalism of the party, supported mainly by both small farmers and big landlords. Its leader Demirel was then very often presented as the "Farmers' Prime Minister".

Onur Özgün, Jaroslav Martykan & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 April 2014

Variant of the DYP flag - Image by Santiago Tazon, 4 November 2002

This flag was seen in Istanbul in summer 2003. An inverted version of this flag (exchanging the white and red colours) is used too, according to pictures from the party website.

Santiago Tazon, 4 November 2002

Democrat Turkey Party

Flag of the DTP - Image by Onur Özgün, 9 August 2001

The DTP (website) was founded on 7 January 1997 by a group of representatives from the True Path Party. It merged in 2008 with the People's Ascent Party.
The flag of the party, adopted in January 1997, is red with a white open umbrella.

Onur Özgün, 9 August 2001