Motherland Party

The Motherland Party (, abbreviated as ANAP) was a political party in Turkey. It was founded in 1983 by Turgut Özal. It merged with the Democrat Party in October 2009. The ANAP was considered a centre-right neoliberal and liberal conservative party that supported restrictions on the role that government can play in the economy and also supported private capital and enterprise and some public expressions of religion. In social policy, it emphasised Islamic values, but represented a different, modern understanding of Islam compared to the Islamist parties; in economic policy it advocated liberalisation and a free market economy. It advocated a kind of neo-conservatism and emphasised the liberalisation of society. Especially since 1991, when Turgut Özal was succeeded by Mesut Yılmaz, many liberal reforms were carried out. The 1983 Turkish general election was won by the new Motherland Party, led by Özal. Although the party was composed of a potentially disruptive mixture of Islamic revivalist and secular liberals, he was able to form a majority government, and briefly, democracy was restored. History Foundation The ANAP was founded on 20 May 1983. The party's founders were Turgut Özal, Cavit Şadi Pehlivanoğlu, Mehmet Keçeciler, Mesut Yılmaz, Cavit Kavak, Adnan Kahveci, Cemil Çiçek, Ali Ayağ, Mustafa Taşar, Kaya Erdem, Güneş Taner, Abdullah Tenekeci, Kazım Oksay, Recep Ercüment Konukman, Veysel Atasoy, Halil Şıvgın, Vehbi Dinçerler, Sudi Türel, Necat Eldem, Ali Tanrıyar, Bedrettin Doğancan Akyürek, İbrahim Özdemir, Abdulhalim Aras, Hüsnü Doğan, Leyla Yeniay Köseoğlu, Vural Arıkan, Bedrettin Dalan, Abdülhalim Aras, Nail Kul, and Mehmet Altınsoy.