A Comparison On The Programs of The People's Party And Progressive Republican Party
Chapter from the book:
Tansü,
Y.
E.
(ed.)
2023.
Selected Papers in the Field of History- IV.
Synopsis
After the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, the patriots, who did not want to leave the fate of the country to the Allied Powers and minorities under their protection, started their resistance, starting from Western Anatolia. In line with the same goals, the patriots, who went to Samsun under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, united and organized the fires of independence, ensured the liberation of the homeland and established a new national state instead of the Ottoman State. After this stage, Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his friends thought that with the victory of the Battle of Dumlupinar, the duties of the Association for Defence of Rights ended, that the term "Defense of Rights" could no longer express its meaning in the War of Independence, and emphasized that a new name and a new program was needed in the new period. M. Kemal Pasha had the opportunity to explain his goals to the public during his country tours. In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, on April 1, 1923, it came to the agenda to hold elections and it was accepted to hold a new election. After the election decision was taken in the parliament, on April 8, 1923, M. Kemal Pasha published a declaration as the Head of the Anatolian and Rumelian Defense of Rights Association. Consisting of 9 Umdes, this declaration formed the basis of the People's Party (CHP). On the other hand, it is possible to extend the origins of the Progressive Republican Party (TCF), as the first opposition party of the Republic, to the disagreements that arose within the People's Party after the proclamation of the Republic in October 1923. The proclamation of the Republic when a group of prominent party members was not present in Ankara caused some reactions. The fact that his former colleagues thought that they were pushed back by the relatively new cadres supported by Mustafa Kemal was also influential in the establishment of the new party. Thus, two parties took their place in Turkish political life with two programs. Our aim in this study is to examine and evaluate the principles put forward by both the Republican People's Party and the Progressive Republican Party and the criticisms they mutually brought to their programs.