In this article, I wanted to take you back to the past and write about the establishment of the Motherland Party, which I studied in detail during my master’s degree and left its mark on Turkish politics in the 80s.

Turgut Özal has had experience in the private sector and abroad in the past years. At the same time, he added his state experience to his career by working in the most important institutions of the state. Even though he was unsuccessful in the 1977 elections, he gained serious political experience thanks to these elections. With the aim and dream of building Turkey’s future, Özal decided to establish the Motherland Party by putting forward all his valuable knowledge.

Engineer Turgut Özal analyzed the problems Turkey experienced at that time very well. Our country experienced the September 12 military coup, and people were overwhelmed by political instability, terrorist incidents and unrecoverable economic problems. Our country was in a state of chaos. The old parties, whose activities were stopped after the coup, were officially closed on October 16, 1982, and many leaders, especially Süleyman Demirel, became politically banned. Politics was an activity that had to be done with the right team and discourse. Politics was also a matter of timing. Turgut Özal would take the necessary political step by taking a photo of the society, with the right team and discourse, and by timing it perfectly. Özal, who served as Deputy Prime Minister in the government formed after the military coup of 12 September 1980 and resigned from this position on 15 July 1982 after the banker Kastelli incident, went to Side district of Antalya to find an answer to the question “What should I do next?” It can be said that Side is the place where the foundations of the Motherland Party were laid.

Mehmet Keçeciler, one of the founders of the Motherland Party, said the following[1]:

In my opinion, the only way out at that time was Özal. Özal’s economic policies continued to be implemented. Mr. Turgut told me, “I entered politics once. “Politics is not a good thing at all.” said. “My heart vessels are blocked. I will love grandchildren. “I will leave politics with the soldiers.” said. And I said to him, “You have no right to do this. We cannot teach this information to anyone. “Where are you going without paying the state’s due?” Özal said, “Don’t push me from behind. “I will not go into politics.” He repeated the sentence.

As Mehmet Keçeciler stated, Özal wanted to avoid entering politics. He had previously been a National Salvation Party Izmir Deputy Candidate in the 1977 elections and lost the elections. At the same time, he also had serious health problems. Mehmet Keçeciler continued his words as follows[2]:

Özal called me one day. At that time, he resigned as Deputy Prime Minister. “Here you go, sir.” I said. He said to me, “Mehmet, can you come? Do you have permission? asked. I asked him, “Can we use permission in your presence? I have 60 more days of leave. “Of course I will come.” I said. He said to me, “Well, you had the business of forming a party. Let’s talk about it. But I have to go to the USA and show my heart. “Let’s see if I will enter politics or not.” said. Özal, 116 kg for the USA. He went there as a doctor, stayed there for 20 days and returned with a weight loss of 34 kilos, down to 82 kilos. It worked like a charm. There was also a change of image. They said a lot of things, saying that he got permission from the USA. It’s obvious that he went to the doctor. The doctor supposedly told him to enter politics. At that time, the opposition said, “Ozal received permission from the USA and came.” He said a lot. It doesn’t matter.

After staying in Side for a certain period of time, Turgut Özal first went to Saudi Arabia, where his daughter Zeynep Özal was residing, then to London, and then to Washington, where his son Ahmet Özal was residing.

Özal explained the following developments regarding Süleyman Demirel during the establishment of the Motherland Party:

I sent a message to Süleyman Bey through Ekrem Ceyhun and asked him to give permission for some people to work with us. For example, names like Mehmet Dülger and Atilla Peynircioğlu, whom I know from Planning. Ekrem Ceyhun had previously answered Süleyman Bey’s ‘No’ to this. He said, “I won’t give these, nor will I give Hasan Celal Güzel.” Actually, we didn’t ask about Hasan. But he added it. Then he said, “Don’t let him form a party.” That’s what Ekrem said. Because the ground was very slippery (Barlas, 1994, p. 35).

Özal, who had previously listened to Süleyman Demirel regarding his career after the 12 March 1971 memorandum and whether to accept the Deputy Prime Minister’s post, this time would not listen to Demirel and would establish his party. At that time, the Great Turkey Party (BTP), supported by Demirel, was established, but the party was closed 10 days later. Turgut Özal would need to get approval from then-President Kenan Evren to establish the Motherland party.

Özal described the dialogue he had with Kenan Evren during the party establishment process as follows:

I asked for an appointment with Evren Pasha. ‘I want to establish a party. Will you let me?’ I have to get the answer to this question first, because establishing a party is not an easy task. You will enter, you will get a lot of people talking, you will bear a lot of financial burden; from him

Then they won’t let you. That’s why it’s best to get permission in advance. Evren told me: ‘Of course we can’t say no to you establishing a party, but don’t include MSP or MHP members.’ That’s what he meant. Since he assumed that we would not accept the leftists, he made him say, “Don’t take them either.” (Barlas, 1994, pp. 28-29).

At that time, Kenan Evren and his friends established two parties. One was Retired General Turgut Sunalp’s party, MDP, and the other was the Populist Party founded by İsmet İnönü’s former Private Secretary Necdet Calp. Kenan Evren and his staff did not believe that Özal and his supporters would be successful.

Özal later explained this situation as follows:

I explained that I was thinking of establishing a party that would unite everyone. I said that we did not previously oppose any political wing or thought. But these, or my opinions, are not important at the time. At that time, the soldiers thought that I could not even get 10 percent of the votes (Barlas, 1994, p. 29).

Özal explained the founder difficulties they experienced after deciding to establish the Motherland Party with the following words:

While establishing ANAP, I had great difficulty in finding a founder. Whoever came became the founder. This is how these 37 people happened. Maybe if I were to start a new party today, I would never buy some of them. But we had no alternative then. Some people we went to were afraid of becoming founders. Some came with advice. Kazım Oksay was Asım Kocabıyık’s lawyer. Mehmet Yazır brought Abdullah Tenekeci Pasha. Vural Arıkan wanted to work with us, Şarık Tara brought him. Then Leyla Yeniay Köseoğlu brought Mesut Yılmaz and said, “This is a very good boy. He was found in Germany or something. He was keen on politics. “He studied political science.” he said (Barlas, 1994, p. 34).

Hüsnü Doğan explained the difficulties the newly established party had in finding a founder with the following words:

The delegation of founders did not know each other until 3-4 days before the establishment of the party. Because there was a risky environment in those days. In order to ensure that events were under control, we did the following: I was giving a number to the founders. I was saying sign opposite that number. We did not write his name because people might be threatened or deterred in one way or another. We had a lot of trouble finding a founder (Birand (Director), 32. Gün, Özallı Years Documentary, 1999).

It is a note to history that the Motherland Party, which would leave its mark on the 80s, had such difficulty in finding only 30 founders. For the establishment of the party, work was carried out for days and weeks in Istanbul Şişli Sadıklar apartment. At that time, there was serious competition between the parties.

Özal, who learned that the Great Turkey Party, supported by Demirel, wanted to use the bee emblem like them, told the story of ANAP’s right to use the bee emblem as follows:

I learned that the ‘Great Türkiye Party’ will also use the bee symbol. I opened it immediately. I know the Minister of Internal Affairs. We are already friends in the same cabinet. I called Selahattin Pasha and said, ‘Can you make our appointment for 08.30?’ Their appointment was before ours. We immediately changed it and brought it forward. We all went together, we gave, and then they gave. Their bee remained in the air. This is what happened (Barlas, 1994, p. 36).

The soldiers, who thought that Özal would not be successful, allowed him to establish his party. In other words, Özal could now establish his party and participate in the elections. Although important names such as Erol Aksoy, Hüsnü Doğan, Adnan Kahveci, Şadi Pehlivanoğlu were vetoed by the National Security Council, the petition for the establishment of the Motherland Party was submitted on May 20, 1983, as approval of 30 names was sufficient for the establishment of the party and the party was officially established. The following are the names of the founders of the Motherland Party, excluding the vetoed names. Most of these names had different views and were new faces to Turkish politics:

Turgut Özal, Bedrettin Dalan, Mesut Yılmaz, Vehbi Dinçerler, Veysel Atasoy, Mustafa Taşar, R. Ercüment Konukman, Güneş Taner, Vural Arıkan, Halil Şıvgın, Sadi Türel, Cahit Aral, İbrahim Özdemir, Metin Emiroğlu, Kâzım Oksay, Mükerrem Taşçıoğlu, Mehmet Altınsoy, Abdulhalim Aras, Leyla Yeniay Köseoğlu, Ferruh İlter, Aycan Çakıroğulları, Nejat Eldem, Bedrettin Akyürek, Abdullah Tenekeci, Kâmil Coşkunoğlu, Feridun Demsoy, Alâaddin Kısakürek, Yener Ulusoy, Ali Tanrıyar, Fahir Sabuniş.

The following statements are included in the preface of the Motherland Party party program:

MOTHERLAND PARTY was founded on May 20, 1983 and took its place in the political life of our country. The symbol of our party is a map of Turkey equipped with honeycombs and a honeybee. BEE’s diligence means PETEK’s making even the remotest corners of our beloved homeland prosperous. In our program, the problems of our country and what we think about their solutions are expressed in a short, clear and concise manner. Our aim is to unite around this program and create a political landscape that will turn Turkey into an advanced and modern country. Nationalist, conservative, social justice and competitive

We are a political party based on a free market economy based on meat. For this reason, we invite those who believe in our program to unity and solidarity, regardless of their previous political tendencies. This is a service gate. We believe that we can serve our nation in the best way possible, and we hope that God Almighty will help us in our efforts.”[3]

In article 1 of the Motherland party program, the aims of the party are expressed as follows:

Motherland Party;

· Considering national sovereignty and the supremacy of the nation, national unity and integrity above all else;

· Believing that the manifestation of the will of the nation and the establishment of national sovereignty can only be possible within a free democratic order where the free vote of the people is essential,

· Accepting human fundamental rights and freedoms as indispensable,

· Having the understanding of “Justice is the basis of property”,

· Considering nationalism and devotion to national and spiritual values as a principle,

· Aiming to reach the level of contemporary civilization in line with the principles and reforms of the great leader Atatürk, the founder of our Republic,

· Believes in social justice and equality of opportunity with the view that “What matters is the happiness of individuals and society”,

· It envisages accelerating economic development, eliminating unemployment and poverty, and expanding prosperity by reducing income distribution differences,

· Accepting the entrepreneurial power of individuals as a basis in economic development,

· Considering that the basis of national education is to raise our young people, who are the guarantee of our future, as civilized people who are committed to the ideal of a modern and advanced Turkey, who have adopted our national and moral values, who have scientific thought, and who have love, respect and tolerance towards everyone,

· Seeing the only way in democratic political struggle as persuasion, compromise and respect for ideas; It is a political party that aims to achieve the ideal of a free, independent, developed, respected, great and powerful Turkey.[4]

The preface of the Motherland Party program and the aims adopted by the party have gone down in history as documents that clearly reflect how well those who prepared them analyzed and internalized the realities of Turkey at that time. As is clearly seen in the party program, the Motherland Party, seeing that our country is tired of the chronic problems and fights that have been going on for a long time, emphasized the ideal of a brand new and fight-free Turkey. It is also important that the party program emphasizes being open to all political views and democracy. In addition, it was seen as a very important point to mention and draw attention to the economic problems experienced by our country by frequently mentioning the economy in the party program.

Turgut Özal, the architect of the January 24 Decisions that fundamentally changed the economy and a successful leader in the eyes of the public, managed to establish his party, which would be seen as a ray of hope in the eyes of the public, at the age of 56, despite all the difficulties. Özal wanted to bring the Turkish people together and reconcile them. He would achieve this with the Motherland Party. The party he designed and founded as a synthesis of Turkey would realize the transformation that was sorely needed in Turkish political life. Thus, my late father, Pharm. With the shaping process of the Motherland Party, of which Süleyman Küçükşabanoğlu will serve as the Founding Provincial Chairman, which started in Side and continued in Sadıklar Apartment, the foundations of the Özal years, which would begin to leave their mark on Turkish political life, were laid.

May you rest in peace, Turgut Özal. We will not forget you…

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[1] On April 23, 2018, Mr. From the face-to-face meeting with Mehmet Keçeciler

[2] On April 23, 2018, Mr. From the face-to-face meeting with Mehmet Keçeciler

[3] Homeland Party party program preface(https://acikerisim.tbmm.gov.tr/
xmlui/bitstream/handle/11543/693/199
607439.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (13.02.2018)

[4] Party program of the Motherland Party
Article 1- https://acikerisim.tbmm.gov.tr/
xmlui/bitstream/handle/
11543/693/199607439.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (13.02.2018)