Intra-party opposition in the Democratic Party (1946-1950)

Democratic Party is a political party established in the conjuncture after World War II when a synchronization of the internal and external dynamics prepared the transition to multiparty life in Turkey. For the first time inside the CHP, the party opposition, which emerged with economic concerns during the negotiations of the Law on Giving Land to Farmers in the assembly, gained political identity with the quadruple proposal and after National Chef Inonu's May 19th speech the incentive and encouraging words of him on National assembly opening speech, organized outside the party and established the Democratic Party. The party formed as a broad coalition on the basis of opposition to 21-year-long oneparty to power. In such a heterodox political structure, the emergence of internal opposition was inevitable. As a matter of fact, 'a group within party who advocated withdrawal from parliament' on the grounds of the despotic methods applied in the 1946 general elections held about six months after the establishment of the party, started to criticize founders. With the establishment of the Human Rights Association and the First Grand Congress, intra-party opposition became more evident. In-house opposition, which had been scattered until January 1948, started to act in coordination with the members of the General Administrative Council and the parliamentary group in the process that started with the resignation of Istanbul Provincial President Kenan Öner and divided the party. The party's parliamentary group and the general administrative board were divided into two. A new group called 'Independent Democrats Group was born in the parliament. . The Democratic Party, after the Second Grand Congress approved the expulsions in June 1949, the internal opposition organized as a monolithic block under the umbrella of the Nation Party, with the participation of the independent democratic group and the party of self-democrats continued their opposition to the Democratic Party in a new political party. Keywords: Democratic Party, Intra-Party Opposition, Founders, Democracy, Collusion