The Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti) of Turkey was the first legal opposition party, opposing the dominant Republican People's Party which had established the Turkish Republic. It was founded by Adnan Menderes, who became Prime Minister of Turkey in 1950. The Democratic Party did not repudiate the Republican People's Party's policy of Westernization, but did not pursue it with quite the same vigour. It was also less militantly secular than the Republican People's Party. The Democratic Party was removed from government when General Cemal Gürsel staged a military coup, ousting Menderes as Prime Minister — the military feared that the founding principles of the Turkish Republic were being eroded, and there was growing public dissatisfaction with Menderes' perceived intolerance of criticism. Menderes was later executed.
The True Path Party (Turkish: DoÄru Yol Partisi or DYP) is a right-wing, secularist conservative Turkish political party, established by Suleyman Demirel in 1983.
The DYP's predecessor was the Democrat Party (DP), which was a conservative and moderate Islamist party responsible for relaxing Turkey's strict secularism laws.
The party was closed down in the 1960 military intervention and later reopened as the Justice Party (AP), which was disbanded in coup of 1980.
However, political parties must act according to the principles of the constitution and may be dissolved by the Constitutional Court if that body determines that their activities "conflict with the indivisible integrity of the state." Political parties may not have ties with any association, union, or professional organization.
Political parties are prohibited from criticizing the military intervention of September 1980 or the actions or decisions of the NSC.
The Democratic Left Party, known by the Turkish acronym DSP (for Demokratik Sol Partisi), was the smallest parliamentary party in January 1995.
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