Who We Are?
Republican People’s Party was established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 9 September 1923 with the name “People’s Party”. The name of the party was changed to “Republican People’s Party” in 1935.
In 1927, CHP adopted “Republicanism”, “Populism”, “Nationalism”, and “Secularism” as the four main principles of the Party. “Etatism” and “Revolutionism” were introduced in 1935, bringing the number of principles to six. The six arrows depicted in the Party logo refer to these six principles.
CHP, under the direction of its founder and first party leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, won the national liberation war, abolished the sultanate and caliphate, established the Turkish Republic, and consolidated the Turkish national unity.
Why We Said NO in The Referendum?
As a citizen and the Chairman of the Republican People’s Party, I want to share with the public my views indicated below on the referendum process in front of us. My deep concerns relating to the political future of the country form the basis of these views.
Our political struggle is for increasing the welfare of our citizens and bringing in the country our democracy to the most advanced level. Why democracy? Because in democracies there is more freedom, wealth and human development.
Because in democracies there is less deprivation, oppression and violence. We know that in Turkey there are basic problems that democracy is confronting. Today, the threats that freedom-based (liberal) democracy is confronting, facing lie at the root of these problems.
The EU’s Stand On The Referendum
For Turkey EU membership is a fundamental goal pursued for more than 50 years with the backing and reflecting the aspiration of the great majority of the population. For us it is clear that Turkey’s EU membership would be greatly beneficial to both the EU and Turkey.
Provided it continues to advance toward the realisation of membership, the convergence and accession process is obviously very significant and consequential in itself, notably in terms of the advances realised in the realms of democracy and human rights.
Therefore it is obvious that the EU’s approaches and stands in matters critical to Turkey always matter considerably.The recent constitutional change and referendum process constitutes a significant matter which will affect Turkey’s future state and administration structures…