Halkin Demokrasi Partisi

(HADEP)

   HADEP, or the Peoples Democracy Party, was created in 1994 as the legal pro-Kurdish party successor to the banned Halkin Emek Partisi (HEP) and Demokrasi Partisi (DEP) parties in Turkey. Although HADEP did rather well in local elections, it was unable to come anywhere near the required 10 percent of the vote to enter parliament. In part, this was because of government harassment, the Islamist appeal, and the failure of ethnic Kurds in the west of Turkey to support the party.

   HADEP won 4.17 percent of the vote in the 1995 national elections and 4.75 percent in the 1999 elections. In the 1999 elections, HADEP did manage to elect the mayors of more than 30 southeastern cities or towns, including Diyarbakir. During the national elections held on 3 November 2002, HADEP formed an alliance with two other minor leftist parties as a hedge against being banned from participating in the elections. This alliance was called Demokratik Halkin Partisi (DEHAP) and managed to win 6.22 percent of the vote.

   In the eyes of many Turks, however, HADEP was simply a front for the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Thus, HADEP was harassed and its leaders off and on imprisoned. One of its leaders, Murat Bozlak, served three years in prison for his political activities. In March 2003, the Turkish Constitutional Court finally banned HADEP. It was eventually succeeded by the Demokratik Toplum Partisi (DTP), which also was banned on 11 December 2009.