Republican People's Party

The Republican People's Party has its origins in the resistance organizations, known as Defence of Rights Associations, created in the immediate aftermath of World War I in the Turkish War of Independence. In the Sivas Congress, Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) and his colleagues united the Defence of Rights Associations into the Association for the Defence of National Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia (Anadolu ve Rumeli Müdâfaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti) (A–RMHC), and called for elections in the Ottoman Empire to elect representatives associated with the organization. Most members of the A–RMHC were previously associated with the Committee of Union and Progress.[8]

A–RMHC members proclaimed the Grand National Assembly as a counter government from the Ottoman government in Istanbul. Grand National Assembly forces militarily defeated Greece, France, and Armenia, overthrew the Ottoman government, and abolished the monarchy. After the 1923 election, A–RMHC was transformed into a political party called the People's Party (Halk Fırkası) soon changing its name to Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası, and then Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) (CHP). Because of the unanimity of the new parliament, the republic was proclaimed with Atatürk as its first president, the Treaty of Lausanne was ratified, and the Caliphate was abolished the next year.[8]

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his Prime Minister İsmet İnönü, 1936. İnönü would succeed him as president and CHP chairman after his death.

In 1924, opposition to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk resulted in the foundation of the Progressive Republican Party (TCF). The life of the TCF was short. The TCF faced allegations of involvement in the Sheikh Said rebellion and for conspiring with remaining members of the CUP to assassinate Atatürk in the İzmir Affair. Because of this all political parties except the CHP were banned, and the TCF's members were purged from the government. For the next two decades Turkey was under a one-party authoritarian dictatorship, with one interruption; another brief experiment of opposition politics through the formation of the Liberal Republican Party. From 1924 to 1946, the CHP introduced sweeping social, cultural, educational, economic, and legal reforms that transformed Turkey into a republican and Western orientated state. Such reforms included the adoption of Swiss and Italian legal and penal codes, the acceleration of industrialization, land reform and rural development programs, forced assimilation policies, strict secularism, women's suffrage, and switching written Turkish from Arabic script into Latin script, to name a few. In the period of 1930–1939, Atatürk's CHP clarified its ideology by adopting the 'Six Arrows': republicanism, reformism, laïcité, populism, nationalism, and statism, as well as borrowing tenets from Communism and (Italian) Fascism.[9] These principles were codified into the constitution on 5 February 1937.

The Six Arrows statue in the garden of the Grand National Assembly during the 4th Republican People's Party Ordinary Convention, 1935

Opposition to Atatürk's reforms were suppressed by various coercive institutions and military force, at the expense of religious conservatives, minorities, and communists. The party-state cracked down on Kurdish resistance to assimilation, suppressing multiple rebellions and encouraging the denial of their existence. In the party's third convention, it clarified its approach towards the religious minorities of the Christians and the Jews, accepting them as real Turks as long as they adhere to the national ideal and use the Turkish language.[10] However under the state sanctioned secularist climate Alevis were able to make great strides in their emancipation, and to this day make up a core constituency of the CHP. With the onset of the Great Depression, the party divided into statist and liberal factions, being championed by Atatürk's prime minister İsmet İnönü and his finance minister Celal Bayar respectively. Atatürk mostly favored İnönü's policies, so economic development of the early republic was largely confined to state-owned enterprises and five-year plans.

The CHP (Then known with the acronym "CHF") sponsored many nation building projects throughout the 1930s, such as People's Courses.

On 12 November 1938, the day after Atatürk's death, his ally İsmet İnönü was elected the second president and assumed leadership of the Republican People's Party.[11] İnönü's presidency saw heavy state involvement in the economy and further rural development initiatives such as Village Institutes. On foreign affairs, the Hatay State was annexed and İnönü adopted a policy of neutrality despite attempts by the Allies and Axis powers to bring Turkey into World War II, during which extensive conscription and rationing was implemented to ensure an armed neutrality. Non-Muslims especially suffered when the CHP government implemented discriminatory "wealth taxes," labor battalions, and peon camps. Over the course of the war, the CHP eventually rejected ultranationalism, with pan-Turkists being purged in the Racism-Turanism Trials.

In the aftermath of World War II, İnönü called for a multi-party general election in 1946 – the first multi-party general election in the country's history. The Motion with Four Signatures resulted in the resignation of some CHP members including Bayar, who then founded the Democrat Party (DP), which challenged the party in the election. The result was a victory for the CHP, which won 395 of the 465 seats, amid criticism that the election did not live up to democratic standards. Under pressure by the new conservative parliamentary opposition and the United States, the party became especially anti-communist, and retracted some of its rural development programs and anti-clerical policies.[12][13][14] The period between 1946 and 1950 saw İnönü prepare for a pluralistic Turkey.[15][16] A more free and fair general election was held in 1950 that led to the CHP losing power to the DP. İnönü presided over a peaceful transition of power. The 1950 election marked the end of the CHP's last majority government. The party has not been able to regain a parliamentary majority in any subsequent election since.[17]

Due to the winner-take-all system in place during the 1950s, the DP achieved landslide victories in elections that were reasonably close, meaning the CHP was in opposition for 10 years. In the meantime, the party began a long transformation into a social democratic force. Even before losing power İnönü created the ministry of labor and signed workers protections into law, and universities were given autonomy from the state.[15] In its ninth congress in 1951, the youth branch and the women's branch were founded. In 1953, the establishment of trade unions and vocational chambers was proposed, and support for a bicameral parliament, the establishment of a constitutional court, election security, judicial independence, and the right to strike for workers was added to the party program.[18]

Though the DP and CHP were rivals, the DP was founded by Republicans and mostly continued Kemalist policies. But despite its name, the Democrat Party became increasingly authoritarian by the end of its rule. İnönü was harassed and almost lynched multiple times by DP supporters, and the DP government confiscated CHP property and harassed their members. The DP blocked the CHP from forming an electoral alliance with opposition parties for the 1957 snap election. By 1960, the DP accused the CHP of plotting a rebellion and threatened its closure. With the army concerned by the DP's authoritarianism, Turkey's first military coup was performed by junior officers. After one year of junta rule the DP was banned and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and two of his ministers were tried and executed. Right-wing parties which trace their roots to the DP have since continuously attacked the CHP for their perceived involvement in the hanging of Menderes.[18]

Bülent Ecevit with Nicolae Ceaușescu, 1978.

The CHP emerged as the first-placed party at the general election of 1961, and formed a grand coalition with the Justice Party, a successor-party to the Democrat Party. This was the first coalition government in Turkey, which endured for seven-months. İnönü was able to form two more governments with other parties until the 1965 election. His labor minister Bülent Ecevit was instrumental in giving Turkish workers the right to strike and collective bargaining. As leader of the Democratic Left movement in the CHP, Ecevit contributed to the party adopting the Left of Centre (Ortanın solu) programme for that election, which they lost against the Justice Party.[19]

İnönü favored Ecevit's controversial faction, resulting in Turhan Feyzioğlu leaving the CHP and founding the Reliance Party. When asked about his reasoning for his favoring Ecevit, İnönü replied: "Actually we are already a left-to-center party after embracing Laïcité. If you are populist, you are (also) at the left of center."[20] İnönü remained as opposition leader and the leader of the CHP until 8 May 1972, when he was overthrown by Ecevit in a party congress, due to his endorsement of the military intervention of 1971.

Ecevit adopted a distinct left wing role in politics and, although remaining staunchly nationalist, attempted to implement democratic socialism into the ideology of CHP. Support for the party increased when he became prime minister in 1973 and invaded Cyprus. The 1970s saw the party solidify its relations with trade unions and leftist groups in an atmosphere of intense polarization and political violence. The CHP achieved its best ever result in a free and fair multi-party election under Ecevit, when in 1977, the party received 41% of the vote. Ecevit and his political rival Süleyman Demirel would constantly turnover the premiership as partisan deadlock took hold. This ended in a military coup in 1980, resulting in the banning of every political party and major politicians being jailed and banned from politics.[21]

Both the party name "Republican People's Party" and the abbreviation "CHP" were banned until 1987. Until 1999, Turkey was ruled by the centre-right Motherland Party (ANAP) and the True Path Party (DYP), unofficial successors of the Democrat Party and the Justice Party, as well as, briefly, by the Islamist Welfare Party. CHP supporters also established successor parties. By 1985, Erdal İnönü, İsmet İnönü's son, consolidated two successor parties to form the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), while the Democratic Left Party (Turkish: Demokratik Sol Parti, DSP) was formed by Rahşan Ecevit, Bülent Ecevit's wife (Bülent Ecevit later took over the DSP in 1987).[22]

After the ban on pre-1980 politicians was lifted in 1987, Deniz Baykal, a household name from the pre-1980 CHP, reestablished the Republican People's Party in 1992, and the SHP merged with the party in 1995. However, Ecevit's DSP remained separate, and to this day has not merged with the CHP.[22] Observers noted that the two parties held similar ideologies and split the Kemalist vote in the nineties. The CHP held an uncompromisingly secularist and establishmentalist character and supported bans of headscarves in public spaces and the Kurdish language.[23]

From 1991 to 1996, the SHP and then the CHP were in coalition governments with the DYP. Baykal supported Mesut Yılmaz's coalition government after the collapse of the Welfare-DYP coalition following the 28 February "post-modern coup." However, due to the Türkbank scandal, the CHP withdrew its support and helped depose the government with a no confidence vote. Ecevit's DSP formed an interim-government, during which the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya. As such, in the election of 1999, the DSP benefited massively in the polls at the expense of CHP, and the party failed to exceed the 10% threshold (8.7% vote), not winning any seats.

In the 2002 general election, the CHP came back with 20% of the vote but 32% of the seats in parliament, as only it and the new AKP (Justice and Development Party) received above the 10% threshold to enter parliament. With DSP's collapse, CHP became Turkey's main Kemalist party. It also became the second largest party and the main opposition party, a position it has retained since. Since the dramatic 2002 election, the CHP has been racked by internal power struggles, and has been outclassed by the AKP governments of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Many of its members were critical of the leadership of CHP, especially Baykal, who they complained was stifling the party of young blood by turning away the young who turn either to apathy or even vote for the AKP.

Republic Protest in Anıtkabir, Atatürk's mausoleum

In 2007, the culmination of tensions between Turkey's secularist establishment and AKP politicians turned into a political crisis. Since Baykal proclaimed the party to be the bulwark of the secularist establishment, the CHP assisted undemocratic attempts by the army and judiciary to shut down the newly elected AKP. The crisis began with massive protests by secularists supported by the CHP in reaction to the AKP's candidate for that year's presidential election: Abdullah Gül, due to his background in Islamist politics and his wife's wearing of the hijab. The CHP chose to boycott the (indirect) election.[24] Without quorum, Erdoğan called for a snap election to increase his mandate, in which the CHP formed an electoral alliance with the declining DSP, but gained only 21% of the vote. During the campaign season, a memorandum directed at the AKP was posted online by the Turkish Armed Forces. The CHP boycotted Gül's second attempt to be voted president, though this time Gül had the necessary quorum with MHP's participation and won.[25] The swearing-in ceremony was boycotted by the CHP and the Chief of the General Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt.[26]

The party also voted against a package of constitutional amendments to have the president elected by the people instead of parliament, which was eventually put to a referendum. The "no" campaign, supported by the CHP, failed, as a majority of Turks voted in favor of direct presidential elections. The final challenge against the AKP's existence was a 2008 closure trial which ended without a ban. Following the decision, the AKP government, in a covert alliance with the Gülen movement, began a purge of the Turkish military, judiciary, and police forces of secularists in the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer trials, which the CHP condemned.[27] Between 2002 and 2010, Turkey held three general elections and two local elections, all of which the CHP received between 18 and 23% of the vote.

An extraordinary vote in parliament saw half of the AKP's parliamentary group vote with the CHP against joining the US-lead coalition invasion of Iraq.[28]

On 10 May 2010, Deniz Baykal announced his resignation as leader of the Republican People's Party after a sex tape of him was leaked to the media. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was elected to be the new party leader.[29] Kılıçdaroğlu has been returning the CHP to its traditional social-democratic image and casting away its secularist-establishmentalist character. This has involved building bridges to voters it has traditionally not attracted: the devout, Kurds, and right-wing voters.[30] However even with Kılıçdaroğlu at the helm, after five general elections the CHP has still not won an election, receiving between only 22 and 26% of the vote in parliamentary elections. The CHP supported the unsuccessful "no" campaign in the 2010 constitutional referendum. In his first general election in 2011, the party increased its support by 25% but not enough to unseat the AKP. The 2013 Gezi Park protests found much support in the CHP.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu during the 2017 March for Justice

The 2014 presidential election was the first in which the position would be directly elected and came just after a massive corruption scandal. The CHP and MHP's joint candidate Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu still lost to Erdoğan with only 38% of the vote. The two parties were critical of the government's negotiations for peace with the PKK, which lasted from 2013–July 2015. In the June 2015 general election, the AKP lost its parliamentary majority due to the debut of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP), which was possible because of strategic voting by CHP voters so the party could pass the 10% threshold.[31] Coalition talks went nowhere. MHP ruled out partaking in a government with HDP in a CHP lead government and the CHP refused to govern with the AKP after weeks of negotiations. In a snap election held that November, the AKP regained their parliamentary majority as well as MHP's support.

Kılıçdaroğlu supported the government in the 2016 coup d'état attempt, the subsequent purges, and incursions into Syria.[31] This support went so far as to help the government pass a law to lift parliamentary immunities, resulting in the jailing of MPs from the HDP, including Selahattin Demirtaş, as well as CHP lawmakers.[32] The party lead the unsuccessful "no" campaign for the 2017 constitutional referendum.

Mayor of Ankara Mansur Yavaş, Leader of CHP Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu.

By 2017, dissidents from MHP founded the Good Party. Kılıçdaroğlu was instrumental in the facilitating the rise of the new party by transferring MPs so they would have a parliamentary group to compete in the 2018 election. In the 2018 general election the CHP, Good Party, Felicity, and Democrat Party established the Nation Alliance to challenge the AKP and MHP's People's Alliance.[33][34] Though CHP's vote was reduced to 22%, strategic voting for the other parties yielded the alliance 33% of the vote. Their candidate for president: Muharrem İnce, received only 30% of the vote. The Nation Alliance was re-established for the 2019 local elections, which saw great gains for the CHP, capturing nearly 30% of the electorate. A tacit collaboration with the HDP allowed for CHP to win the municipal mayoralties of İstanbul and Ankara.[30]

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was the CHP's and the Nation Alliance's candidate for the 2023 presidential election, with Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, mayors of İstanbul and Ankara, and leaders of the parties making up the Nation Alliance ran to be his vice-presidents. Despite the economic crisis, mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lackluster response to the devastating Kahramanmaraş earthquake, Kılıçdaroğlu lost his bid to Erdoğan after taking the race to a run-off and receiving 48% of the vote. The Nation Alliance again lost the parliamentary election to the People's Alliance. Smaller parties to the CHP's right ran on its lists in which resulted in them receiving 35 seats for a 3% gain in its polling.

The Republican People's Party is a centre-left[35] political party that espouses social democracy[36][37] and Kemalism.[38] The CHP describes itself as a ''modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to the founding principles and values of the Republic of Turkey".[39][40]

The distance between the party administration and many leftist grassroots, especially left-oriented Kurdish voters, contributed to the party's shift away from the political left.[41] Some leftists critical of Kemalism criticize the party's continuous opposition to the removal of Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which caused people to be prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" including Elif Şafak and Nobel Prize winner author Orhan Pamuk, its conviction of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, its attitude towards minorities in Turkey, as well as its Cyprus policy.

Numerous politicians from the party have espoused support for LGBT rights,[42][43][44] and the feminist movement in Turkey.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has repeatedly called for Selahattin Demirtaş and Osman Kavala to be released from jail.[45]

The party holds a significant position in the Socialist International,[46] Progressive Alliance[47] and is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists. In 2014 the CHP urged the Socialist International to accept the Republican Turkish Party of Northern Cyprus as a full member.[48]

The CHP has supported Turkey's interventions in the Middle East. While it still supports Turkish intervention in Libya, since 2021 it has voted against intervention in Iraq,[49] and since 2023, Syria.[50]

The party is pro-European and supports Turkish membership to the European Union. They also support Turkish membership to NATO and the expansion of the alliance.[51][52]