Motherland Party (Turkey)

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ANAP Symbol

The Motherland Party of Turkey, (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi or ANAP) is a political party in Turkey. It was founded in 1983 by Turgut Özal. The ANAP is considered a center-right party which supports restrictions on the role that government can play in the economy, which favors private capital and enterprise, and which allows for some public expressions of religion.

The ANAP maintained a majority in the government of Turkey from 1983 until 1993. Turgut Özal held the position of Prime Minster from 1983 to 1989, then President from 1989 to 1993. During this time, the ANAP leaders transformed the Turkish economy by beginning free-market reforms, particularly cutting down the public area and moving towards privately owned business. In 1987, the ANAP-led government filed for admission into the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union. However, this attempt to enter the EEC was ended when the ANAP criticized the Customs Union of the EEC and decided the admission terms prescribed by the EEC were not in the best interest of Turkey or its people.

After its longest run, the ANAP has had few opportunities to return to leadership. In 1995, The Motherland party formed a brief coalition with the True Path Party (DYP), another center-right oriented party, that allowed their influence to return for a short period of time. Then, from July 1997 to November of 1998, the ANAP was returned to the head of government with the leader Mesut Yilmaz. However, The ANAP suffered one of the largest defeats during the April 1999 elections and became the fourth largest political party in Turkey with only 14% of the votes. Following these elections, ANAP received only 86 of 365 seats in the Parliament. During the 2002 elections, they got only 5.12% of the votes and no seats in Parliament.

Since 2005, its new president has been Erkan Mumcu.

[edit] Leaders

The chief executive member of the party is called the Genel Başkan. He/She is elected by party delegates in biennial party congresses. The party had five leaders since its foundation in 1983: