Democratic Renewal Party
The Democratic Renewal Party (Turkish: Demokratik Yenilenme Partisi) is a political party in the Republic of Turkey that gathers liberals and socialists opposed to the ruling Republican People's Party.
History
The Democratic Renewal Party originated as the Human Rights Society (Turkish: İnsan Hakları Cemiyeti), a think tank made out of liberals and socialists opposed to the CHP's authoritarianism, founded by Tevfik Rüştü Aras, an experienced Kemalist diplomat with leftist sympathies. In 1955, on the request of President İsmet İnönü, who wanted a left-wing alternative to the National Democratic Party to divide the anti-CHP voter base, Aras created the DYP alongside liberal economist Ekrem Alican and socialist intellectual Mehmet Ali Aybar. As the years went on, İnönü's plans of a controlled opposition failed as the DYP and UDP got more and more independent and formed the Democratic Alliance.
In late 1961, the UDP and DYP cooperated with the reformist wing of the CHP to pass the Democratization Bill of 1962 with the goal of removing the CHP's dominance over Turkish politics. This passed the National Assembly with 55% support but was vetoed in the Grand Council of Kemalism.
Ideology
The DYP is divided into two factions: the liberal wing led by Alican who supports free market reforms and social welfare, and the socialist wing under Aybar who advocates for nationalisation and closer cooperation with unions. The party's support base is made out of trade unions and student movements that took root with the heavy industrialisation and education policies under Prime Ministers Recep Peker and Falih Rıfkı Atay.