List of political parties in Turkey

Turkey is a presidential republic with a multi-party system. Major parties are defined as political parties that received more than 7% of the votes in the latest general election and/or represented in parliament. Minor parties are defined as political parties that have fulfilled the requirements of the Supreme Election Council^{[citation needed]} (Yüksek Seçim Kurulu in Turkish, abbreviated as YSK) and whose names have been listed on ballots. Forming a political party without prior permission is a constitutional right, but the Interior Ministry may delay registering a new party for years,^[1][2] so the party cannot stand in elections.^[3]

If the ID and serial number of a person's Turkish identity card is known, anyone can query their political party membership via the website of the General Prosecution Office of the Supreme Court of Appeal or mobile phone messages.^[4][5]

Political parties represented in the Turkish Parliament

Main article: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

General information about the parties holding seats in the Grand National Assembly as of June 2023:^[6]

#	Party			Leader	Position	Ideology	MPs	Metro. Mun.	Municipalities	Provincial councillors	Municipal Assemb.
1		AK PARTY	Justice and Development Party Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Right-wing	National conservatism Right-wing populism	264 / 600	15 / 30	742 / 1,355	757 / 1,272	10,173 / 20,745
2		CHP	Republican People's Party Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi	Özgür Özel	Centre-left	Kemalism Social democracy	129 / 600	11 / 30	241 / 1,355	184 / 1,272	4,608 / 20,745
3		DEM PARTY	Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party Halkların Eşitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi	Tulay Hatımoğulları Oruç Tuncer Bakırhan	Centre-left to left-wing	Regionalism Minority rights Kurdish nationalism	57 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
4		MHP	Nationalist Movement Party Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi	Devlet Bahçeli	Far-right^[7]	Ultranationalism National conservatism	49 / 600	1 / 30	233 / 1,355	188 / 1,272	2,819 / 20,745
5		İYİ PARTİ	Good Party İYİ Parti	Meral Akşener	Centre-right to right-wing	Kemalism National conservatism	38 / 600	0 / 30	24 / 1,355	23 / 1,272	1,092 / 20,745
6		DEVA PARTİSİ	Democracy and Progress Party Demokrasi ve Atılım Partisi	Ali Babacan	Centre-right^[12]	Liberal conservatism Pro-Europeanism	15 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	1 / 1,272	4 / 20,745
7		SAADET	Felicity Party Saadet Partisi	Temel Karamollaoğlu	Right-wing	National Outlook Islamism	20 / 600	0 / 30	21 / 1,355	3 / 1,272	295 / 20,745
8		YENİDEN REFAH	New Welfare Party Yeniden Refah Partisi	Fatih Erbakan	Far-right	National Outlook Islamism	5 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	5 / 20,745
9		HÜDA PAR	Free Cause Party Hür Dava Partisi	Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu	Far-right	Islamic fundamentalism Minority rights	4 / 600	0 / 30	1 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	3 / 20,745
10		TİP	Workers' Party of Turkey Türkiye İşçi Partisi	Erkan Baş	Left-wing to far-left	Communism Marxism-Leninism	3 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
11		DP	Democratic Party Demokrat Parti	Gültekin Uysal	Centre-right	Liberal conservatism Pro-Europeanism	3 / 600	0 / 30	8 / 1,355	1 / 1,272	135 / 20,745
12		EMEP	Labour Party Emek Partisi	Ercüment Akdeniz	Far-left	Communism Marxism-Leninism	2 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
13		HDP	Peoples' Democratic Party Halkların Demokratik Partisi	Pervin Buldan Mithat Sancar	Centre-left^[13] to left-wing^[14]	Regionalism Minority rights	2 / 600	0 / 30	6 / 1,355	101 / 1,272	1,230 / 20,745
14		DSP	Democratic Left Party Demokratik Sol Parti	Önder Aksakal	Centre-left	Ecevitism Social democracy	1 / 600	0 / 30	7 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	98 / 20,745

Other political parties

Other parties eligible to contest in elections (by March 2023)^[15]

Party				Leader	Position	Ideology	MPs	Metro. Mun.	Municipalities	Provincial council.	Municipal Asse.
	ZAFER PARTİSİ		Victory Party Zafer Partisi	Ümit Özdağ	Far-right	Ultranationalism Anti-immigration	0 / 600	0 / 30	3 / 1,355	0 / 1,355	0 / 20,745
	MEMLEKET		Homeland Party Memleket Partisi	Muharrem İnce	Centre	Kemalism Pro-Europeanism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	2 / 1,272	4 / 20,745
	TKP		Communist Party of Turkey Türkiye Komünist Partisi	Kemal Okuyan	Far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism	0 / 600	0 / 30	1 / 1,355	3 / 1,272	11 / 20,745
	VATAN PARTİSİ		Patriotic Party Vatan Partisi	Doğu Perinçek	Left-wing	Ulusalcılık Eurasianism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	5 / 20,745
	AB PARTİ		Justice Unity Party Adalet Birlik Partisi	İrfan Uzun			0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	AP		Justice Party Adalet Partisi	Vecdet Öz	Centre-right	Liberal conservatism Kemalism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	ANAP		Motherland Party Anavatan Partisi	İbrahim Çelebi	Centre-right	Liberal conservatism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	BTP		Independent Turkey Party Bağımsız Türkiye Partisi	Hüseyin Baş	Radical centre	Civic nationalism Kemalism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	GELECEK PARTİSİ		Future Party Gelecek Partisi	Ahmet Davutoğlu	Centre-right	Conservatism Pro-Europeanism	0 / 600	0 / 30	1 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	GENÇPARTİ		Young Party Genç Parti	Hakan Uzan	Centre	Economic liberalism Secularism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	HAK-PAR		Rights and Freedoms Party Hak ve Özgürlükler Partisi	Düzgün Kaplan		Kurdish nationalism Federalism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	HKP		People's Liberation Party Halkın Kurtuluş Partisi	Nurullah Ankut	Far-left	Communism Left-wing nationalism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	MİLLET		Nation Party Millet Partisi	Cuma Nacar	Right-wing	National conservatism Turkish nationalism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	MYP		National Path Party Milli Yol Partisi	Remzi Çayır	Far-right	Turkish-Islamic nationalism Social conservatism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	SOL PARTİ		Left Party SOL Parti	Önder İşleyen	Left-wing to Far-left	Socialism Left-wing populism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	TKH		Communist Movement of Turkey Türkiye Komünist Hareketi	Aysel Tekerek	Far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745
	YTP		New Turkey Party Yeni Türkiye Partisi	Engin Yılmaz	Right-wing	Social conservatism Right-wing populism	0 / 600	0 / 30	0 / 1,355	0 / 1,272	0 / 20,745

General information on other political parties registered in the Ministry of Interior:

Abbr.		Party Name	Turkish name	Leader(s)	Position	Ideology	Date of foundation
	1920 TKP	Socialist Liberation Party	Toplumcu Kurtuluş Partisi	İsmail Kaplan	Far-left	Communism, Marxism–Leninism	2012
	SA	Socialist Alternative	Sosyalist Alternatif	Collective leadership	Far-left	Socialism, Trotskyism	2013
	DSİP	Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party	Devrimci Sosyalist İşçi Partisi	Tuna Emren, Şenol Karakaş	Far-left	Trotskyism	1997
	DİP	Revolutionary Workers' Party	Devrimci İşçi Partisi	Ömer Sungur Savran	Far-left	Trotskyism	2007
	LDP	Liberal Democratic Party	Liberal Demokrat Parti	Gültekin Tırpancı	Centre to centre-right	Classical liberalism	1994
	TSİP	Socialist Workers' Party of Turkey	Türkiye Sosyalist İşçi Partisi	Turgut Koçak	Far-left	Communism, Anti-revisionism	1993
	YURT-P	Homeland Party	Yurt Partisi	Sadettin Tantan	Centre-right	Conservatism	2002
	TURAN	Great Turan Movement Party	Büyük Turan Hareketi Partisi	Varol Esen	Far-right	Nationalism, Turanism	2014
	ÖTÜKEN	Ötüken Union Party	Ötüken Birliği Partisi	Çağatay Korkut Körüklü	Far-right	Nationalism, Pan-Turkism	2017
	ULUSAL	National Party	Ulusal Parti	Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu	Far-left	Nationalism	2010
	MMP	National Struggle Party	Milli Mücadele Partisi	Ahmet Kaya		Nationalism Kemalism	2014
	-	Green Party	Yeşiller Partisi	Emine Özkan (female spokesperson) Koray Doğan Urbarlı (male spokesperson)	Left-wing	Ecofeminism	2020
	-	Green Left Party	Yeşil Sol Parti	Eylem Tuncaelli, Naci Sönmez	Left-wing	Green politics	2012
	-	Women's Party	Kadın Partisi	Fatma Benal Yazgan		Feminism	2014
	-	Centre Party	Merkez Parti	Abdurrahim Karslı	Centre to centre-right	Liberal	2014

Former

Inactive parties

The following parties are inactive, and they are not listed in the active political parties list by the Supreme Court of Appeal.^[16]

Party Name		Turkish name	Abbr.	Ideology	Position
	Democracy Party of Turkey & Kurdistan	Türkiye Kürdistan Demokrasi Partisi	T-KDP	Kurdish nationalism	Big tent
	Alternative and Change Party	Alternatif ve Değişim Partisi	AL PARTİ	Conservative	Right-wing
	Nation and Justice Party	Millet ve Adalet Partisi	MİLAD
	People's Ascent Party	Halkın Yükselişi Partisi	HYP	Social democracy	Centre-left
	Turkey's Change Movement	Türkiye Değişim Hareketi	TDH	Social democracy	Centre-left
	Social Reconciliation Reform and Development Party	Toplumsal Uzlaşma Reform ve Kalkınma Partisi	TURK-P	Nationalism
	Independent Republican Party	Bağımsız Cumhuriyet Partisi	BCP	Nationalism
	Electronic Democracy Party	Elektronik Demokrasi Partisi	e-Parti	Liberal	Single-issue

Defunct and historical parties

These are some of the parties that were dismantled because of their internal dynamics, mergers, inability to find electoral base or through governmental intervention, for instance following the Turkish coups d'état.

Defunct and historical parties
Party Name		Position	Notes
	Alternative Party (Alternatif Parti)	Right-wing	Conservative
	Participatory Democracy Party (Katılımcı Demokrasi Partisi)	Centre-left	dissolved in 2019
	Anatolia Party (Anadolu Partisi)	Centre-left	dissolved in 2015
	Democratic Left People's Party (Demokratik Sol Halk Partisi)	Centre-left	dissolved in 2010
	New Turkey Party (2002) (Yeni Türkiye Partisi)	Centre-left	joined CHP in 2004
	Social Democracy Party (SODEP) (Sosyal Demokrat Parti)	Centre-left	merged with People's Party to form Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1985
	People's Party (Halkçı Parti)		merged with SODEP to form Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1985
	Social Democratic Populist Party (Sosyaldemokrat Halkçı Parti)	Centre-left	merged with CHP in 1995
	Socialist Democracy Party (Sosyalist Demokrasi Partisi)	Left-wing	merged to Peoples' Democratic Party in 2015
	People's Communist Party of Turkey (Halkın Türkiye Komünist Partisi)	Far-left	dissolved in 2017
	Republican Villagers Nation Party (Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi)	Nationalist	merger of two parties, replaced by MHP in 1969
	Nationalist Task Party (Milliyetçi Çalışma Partisi)	Nationalist	replaced by MHP in 1992
	Nationalist Democracy Party (Milliyetçi Demokrasi Partisi)	Nationalist	dissolved 1986
	Rights and Equality Party (Hak ve Eşitlik Partisi)	Nationalist, Populist	dissolved 2019
	Greens of Turkey (Yeşiller Partisi)	Green politics	merged with EDP to form Greens and the Left Party of the Future (Yeşiller ve Sol Gelecek Partisi) in 2012.
	Equality and Democracy Party (Eşitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi)	Green politics	merged with the Greens to form Greens and the Left Party of the Future (Yeşiller ve Sol Gelecek Partisi) in 2012.
	Justice Party (Adalet Partisi)	Conservative, right-wing	closed on 12 September 1980
	Communist Party (Komünist Parti)	Far-left	Member of United June Movement, Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties and International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties. Founded in 2014, Dissolved in 2017
	Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti)	Centre-right	1946-1961
	Nation Party (Millet Partisi)	Right-wing	1948–1953 and 1962–1977
	New Party (Yeni Parti)		dissolved 2012
	Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti)	Centre-right	1970-1980
	Democratic Center Party (Demokratik Merkez Partisi)	Right-wing	merged into DYP on September 14, 1991
	True Path Party (Doğru Yol Partisi)	Centre-right	merged with Motherland Party into Democrat Party (Turkey, 2007) in 2007
	New Turkey Party (1961) (Yeni Türkiye Partisi)	Right-wing	joined to Justice Party in 1973
	People's Voice Party (Halkın Sesi Partisi)	Right-wing	dissolved in 2012
	Turkey Party (Türkiye Partisi)	Centre-right	dissolved in 2012
	Liberal Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası)	Centre-right, Liberal	dissolved itself in 1930
	Liberty Party (Hürriyet Partisi)	Liberal	joined CHP in 1958
	National Salvation Party (Milli Selâmet Partisi)	Sunni Islamist	closed on 12 September 1980
	National Development Party (Milli Kalkınma Partisi)	Sunni Islamist

Banned parties

These are some of the parties that were banned through extraordinary courts or the Constitutional Court of Turkey.

Banned parties
Party Name		Position	Notes
	Fatherland Party (Vatan Partisi)	Left-wing	banned in 1954
	Workers Party of Turkey (Türkiye İşçi Partisi)	Far-left	banned in 1971, represented in the national senate in early 1960s. (1961–1987) eventually merged with the Communist Party of Turkey in 1987.
	United Communist Party of Turkey (Türkiye Birleşik Komünist Partisi)	Far-left	banned in 1991; ban found contrary to Article 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, 1998 (1987–1991)
	Labour Party (Emek Partisi)	Far-left	ban found contrary to Article 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, 2005, and re-established
	Progressive Republican Party (Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası)	Conservative	banned on 3 June 1925 (1924–1925)
	National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi)	Sunni Islamist	banned on 20 May 1971 (1970–1971)
	Welfare Party (Refah Partisi)	Sunni Islamist	banned on 16 January 1998; (1983-1998) ban upheld by European Convention on Human Rights 2003
	Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi)	Sunni Islamist	banned on 22 June 2001; (1998-2001) ECHR case withdrawn by applicant 2005
	People's Labor Party (Halkın Emek Partisi)	Kurdish nationalist	banned in July 1993 (1990-1993)
	Democracy Party (Demokrasi Partisi)	Kurdish nationalist	banned on 16 June 1994; found contrary to Article 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, 2002 (1993-1994)
	People’s Democracy Party (Halkın Demokrasi Partisi)	Kurdish nationalist	banned on 13 March 2003; found contrary to Article 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, 2010 (1994-2003)
	Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi)	Kurdish nationalist	banned on 11 December 2009; ECHR case ongoing (2005-2009)^[citation needed]
	Great Turkey Party (Büyük Türkiye Partisi)	Turkish nationalist	banned in 1983

See also

• Politics of Turkey
• List of political parties in the Ottoman Empire
• Communist Party of Turkey (disambiguation)

Notes

References

1. "We are starting the legal process to use our democratic right!". Green Party (Turkey). Retrieved 2021-03-22.
2. Ergin, Sedat. "Türkiye'de bir Yeşiller Partisi kurmaya kalktığınızda" [When you try to establish a Green Party in Turkey]. Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-12-12.
3. Keyman, Fuat (2022-01-22). "Yeşiller Partisi niye engelleniyor ve Muhalefet ne yapmalı?" [Why is the Green Party blocked and what should the Opposition do?]. PolitikYol (in Turkish). Retrieved 2022-01-27.
4. "Duties Relating to Political Parties". Court of Cassation (Turkey). Retrieved 22 March 2021.
5. "Siyasi Parti Üyeliği".
6. "Türki̇ye Büyük Mi̇llet Mecli̇si̇".
7. • "Turkish far right on the rise". The Independent. 20 April 1999. Archived from the original on 14 October 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
   • Avcı, Gamze (September 2011). (PDF). South European Society and Politics. Routledge. 16 (3): 435–447. doi:10.1080/13608746.2011.598359. ISSN 1743-9612. S2CID 154513216. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
   • Çınar, Alev; Burak Arıkan (2002). "The Nationalist Action Party: Representing the State, the Nation or the Nationalists?". In Barry Rubin & Metin Heper (ed.). Political Parties in Turkey. Londra: Routledge. p. 25. ISBN 0714652741.
8. "Babacan ve arkadaşları parti için son düzlükte: Yeni oluşumun ilk hedefi ana akım siyaset olmak".
9. "Turkey's Ali Babacan to offer a detailed reform strategy in his new party programme". Ahval. 27 December 2019.
10. "Could Turkey's new parties change the political balance?" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-10-17.
11. "İZLENİM | DEVA Partisi'nin ilk gününden izlenimler: İslamcı değil merkez sağcı". 11 March 2020.
12. ^{[8][9][10][11]}
13. Oxford Analytica (2019). Turkish leader will assess and address opposition wins.
14. Celep, Ödül (2014). "Can the Kurdish Left contribute to Turkey's democratization?" (PDF). Insight Turkey. 16 (3): 166.
15. . NTV (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
16. "Faaliyette Olan Siyasi Partiler". The Supreme Court of Appeal. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

External links

• Active political parties according to the chief prosecutor