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DP looking for new leader following merger
Although Hüsamettin Cindoruk, the party’s current chairman, is resisting stepping down, the party is preparing for a congress on May 27 that will mark the 50th anniversary of a military coup that took place in 1960 and resulted in the execution of the then DP leader and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.
Senior members of the DP discussed cooperating in the 2011 general elections with Abdullatif Şener, who established the Turkey Party last year after parting ways with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), and are trying to have Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) President Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu elected as the new leader. Hisarcıklıoğlu, who will step down as TOBB president in May, will decide whether he will enter politics in late April.
DP members are also in contact with Democratic Left Party (DSP) Eskişehir Mayor Yılmaz Büyükerşen. Professor Büyükerşen attended the DP-ANAVATAN merger assembly but did not decide on whether to enter the party. DP officials are also working on having CHP İstanbul deputy İlhan Kesici, Professor Süheyl Batum and Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent join the ranks of their party.
Proposal made to Çiller
The DP administration also approached former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller, a former leader of the True Path Party (DYP), to ask her to re-enter politics. Senior DP officials believe a DP with Çiller and former ANAVATAN leader Mesut Yılmaz would comfortably pass the 10 percent threshold in the next general elections. Nevertheless, Çiller said she is not considering joining the ranks of the DP under the leadership of Cindoruk.
During the Feb. 28, 1997 postmodern coup, Cindoruk parted ways with Çiller’s DYP and established the Democratic Turkey Party (DTP).
The DP’s former ANAVATAN members are reportedly disturbed with the course of developments in the party, in particular by the indifference shown by Cindoruk to problems faced by the party’s organizational structure.
A fight is taking place between the ANAVATAN and DP members of the party and the structure of the General Executive Board (GİK) is leading to debates. GİK was formed after the merger of the parties to serve as the highest decision-making mechanism. It has 50 members from the DP and 50 members from ANAVATAN. The dominant DP figures in the GİK complain that the board has an excess of members, preventing it from working efficiently. They suggest that the number of GİK members be lowered to 75 or 50. If such a change takes place, the number of ANAVATAN members on the board will be cut. ANAVATAN members oppose this suggestion because their delegates will not be able to vote in the general assembly.
The Supreme Court of Appeals’ Chief Prosecutor’s Office cancelled the mass registry of ANAVATAN members with the DP after ANAVATAN was dissolved. This decision invalidated the merger of the parties on the grassroots level, leaving party organs to only have members from the DP.
The DP and ANAVATAN decided to unite ahead of the May 2007 presidential election, but the move turned into a fiasco. During the presidential election, former DP leader Mehmet Ağar dissuaded the Erkan Mumcu-led ANAVATAN from attending the parliamentary sessions to elect the president, thereby creating a crisis. The ruling AK Party decided to hold early elections, giving the two parties an overwhelming defeat in the parliamentary elections of July 22, 2007.
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