Turkish Workers Party
TURKISH WORKERS PARTY
Turkish political party, 1961–1971.
This first avowedly socialist group to make a significant impact on the Turkish party system was founded in February of 1961. Its emergence signified the relative liberalism of the political order in the wake of the military intervention of 27 May 1960. The party competed successfully in the elections of 1965 and 1969, polling about 3 percent of the vote and gaining fifteen seats in the former and two in the latter election (the difference is attributable to changes in the electoral law). Its presence on the scene may have pulled the centrist Republican People's party (RPP) to the left. The party was subject to official and mob harassment, including violent attacks on its facilities and members. It was dissolved by order of the constitutional court in July 1971 on grounds that its leaders had encouraged communism and ethnic divisiveness (specifically, Kurdish separatism).
Bibliography
Ahmad, Feroz. The Turkish Experiment in Democracy, 1950–1975. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1977.
frank tachau