Homeland Party (Turkey, 2021)

The Homeland Party (Turkish: Memleket Partisi) is a political party in Turkey that was founded on 17 May 2021 by Muharrem İnce, the former candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the 2018 Turkish presidential election.

Homeland Party
Memleket Partisi
AbbreviationMemleket (official)
ChairpersonMuharrem İnce
SecretaryHalil İlker Çelik
FounderMuharrem İnce
Founded4 September 2020 (2020-09-04) (as a movement)
Registered17 May 2021 (2021-05-17) (as a party)
Split fromRepublican People's Party
HeadquartersÇankaya, Ankara
Membership (2024)Increase 66,738[2]
IdeologyKemalism[3]
Pro-Europeanism[4]
Populism[5][6]
Ulusalism (alleged)[7][8][9]
Colours  Blue
  Light blue
Slogan(MAVİ)
Homeland, Justice, Conscience, and Jobs for the jobless!
Grand National Assembly
0 / 600
Provincial councillors
0 / 1,282
Municipal assemblies
10 / 20,952
Website
memleketpartisi.org.tr

The party originated as a social movement (Homeland Movement[10]) in September 2020, two years after the election. It split from the CHP after İnce failed to unseat serving CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu from his position.[11] İnce was also encouraged to establish a party during his Homeland Movement campaign.[12]

The party is largely seen as a protest movement against the established CHP leadership, which has refused to resign despite consecutive election losses and has been accused by İnce of straying from the CHP's core Kemalist values.[13] One of the party's slogans is "Neither from the right nor from the left, but in the way of Atatürk".

History

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Homeland Movement

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The Homeland Movement was founded by Muharrem İnce in Sivas on 4 September 2020, marking the anniversary of the Sivas Congress, with the motto of "The Homeland Movement In a Thousand Days (Bin Günde Memleket Hareketi)". İnce stated that the aim of the movement during its foundation as "...not a intraparty opposition movement, we are offering an alternative to Turkey. Turkey needs to reunite and share. The name of the movement that we started today is 'Homeland Within 1000 Days' movement."[14]

Partification

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Muharrem İnce, on 8 December 2020, stated that he would leave the CHP, which he had been a member of since 1992, and that the Homeland Movement would be registered as a political party. The name and logo of the party would be made public by himself at a press conference in the future.[15] İnce started a three-day preseason training in Nevşehir on 25 January 2021 with a team that consisted of 80 people, and said: "We have unanimously accepted our party constitution".[16]

Muharrem İnce said that the party's foundation application would be given to the Ministry of Interior in April 2021.[17] It was eventually provided earlier than expected on 17 May, at which time the party was officially established. Upon establishment, three CHP members of the Parliament joined the party. One of them resigned later from the party and became independent.[18] The party sought to gain support from CHP's constituencies, especially followers of ulusalcılık within the party.[19]

In February 2023, Muharrem İnce announced that the Homeland Party is discussing an electoral alliance with the Democratic Left Party, the Victory Party, True Party and the Justice Party for the 2023 Turkish general election.[20]

On 6 March 2023, Muharrem İnce left the four-party alliance negotiations by sending a message to their WhatsApp group.[21]

Election results

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General elections

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Election Share Seats Leader
2023 0.92% Muharrem İnce

References

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  1. ^ "Memleket Partisi Resmi Web Sitesi" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  2. ^ "Memleket Partisi" (in Turkish). Court of Cassation. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  3. ^ "Muharrem İnce, Memleket Partisi'nin yol haritasını açıkladı". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  4. ^ "Memleket Partisi Program" (PDF). memleketpartisi.org.tr.
  5. ^ "Lümpenleşme, popülizm, tedirgin iyimserlik arasına sıkışmak". Gazete Oksijen. 4 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Präsidentschaftswahl in der Türkei: Muharrem İnce könnte zum Spielverderber werden". Der Tagesspiegel Online.
  7. ^ Duvar, Gazete (2023-09-05). "Son düzlükte İnce-Oğan ve ittifaklar". www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/son-duzlukte-ince-ogan-ve-ittifaklar-makale-1617232 (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  8. ^ Tauscher, Soner; Erdoğdu, Osman; Korkmaz, Şebnem (2019-06-30). "Alman Medyasının Eleştirel Söylem Analizi: 24 Haziran 2018 Türkiye Genel Seçimleri". Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi (in Turkish) (33): 96–118. doi:10.17829/turcom.525984. ISSN 2630-6220.
  9. ^ Mutlu, Begüm; Tokmak, Mehmet Can (2023-11-09). "Demokratik Gelişim Perspektifinden Türkiye'de Siyasal Partileşme Kültürü". 4. BOYUT Medya ve Kültürel Çalışmalar Dergisi (in Turkish) (23): 121–191. doi:10.26650/4boyut.2023.1362630. ISSN 2822-6623.
  10. ^ See “History” for more information about the movement.
  11. ^ "Kılıçdaroğlu Muharrem İncenin siyasi parti yapılanması iddialarına yanıt verdi" [Kılıçdaroğlu responds to claims of İnce forming a party]. sozcu.com.tr (in Turkish). Sözcü Gazetesi. 1 January 2021.
  12. ^ "İnce 'parti kurayım mı?' diye sordu, yurttaşlar yanıt verdi; "Kur, kur!"" [İnce; “The people want me to establish a political party.”] (in Turkish). Cumhuriyet Gazetesi (cumhuriyet.com.tr). 11 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Muharrem İnce istifa etti: CHP tabeladan ibaret" [İnce has resigned, accuses CHP.] (in Turkish). Gazete duvaR. (gazeteduvar.com.tr). 8 February 2021.
  14. ^ ""Bin günde memleket" hareketi nedir? Muharrem İnce'den önemli açıklamalar". Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Muharrem İnce parti kuracağını açıkladı". Cumhuriyet. 8 December 2020. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Muharrem İnce'den 'Memleket Partisi' açıklaması". abc.com. 25 January 2021. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021.
  17. ^ "Muharrem İnce: Siyasette 24 Saat Çok Uzun Zaman". www.milliyet.com. 3 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Milletvekili Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Memleket Partisi'nden istifa etti". www.cumhuriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  19. ^ "İnce Liderliğinde Memleket Partisi Kuruldu". Amerika'nin Sesi | Voice of America - Turkish (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  20. ^ "Memleket Partisi, Demokratik Sol Parti, Zafer Partisi, Adalet Partisi ve Doğru Parti'den 4. Ittifak geliyor".
  21. ^ "Muharrem İnce 'mesajla' 4'lü ittifaktan ayrıldı". www.cumhuriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-03-06.
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