Welfare Party

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A clock displaying the emblem of the Welfare Party. The party slogan translates as "Justice is our goal."

The Welfare Party (Refah Partisi) (RP) in Turkey was founded by Ahmed Tekdal in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, Milli Nizam Partisi (National Order Party, MNP) and Milli Selamet Partisi (National Salvation Party, MSP), which were banned from politics. The RP participated in mayoral elections at that time and they won in three cities- Konya, Şanlıurfa, and Van. Their vote percentage was approximately 5%. Their popular vote increased over the years until they became the largest party under Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in 1996. The coalition government of Erbakan was forced out of power by the Turkish military in 1997.^[1]

In 1998 the Welfare Party was banned. The ban was upheld by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on February 13, 2003. See Case of Refah Partisi (The Welfare Party) and Others v. Turkey.^{[citation needed]}