- Title: TURKEY: Military government disbands political parties
- Date: 19th October 1981
- Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (VISNEWS - HULKI BOZKURT) GV Istanbul city centre GV Justice Party Headquarters SVs People's Republican Party offices (2 shots) GV National Salvation Party offices SV M.H.P. headquarters
- Embargoed: 3rd November 1981 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey, Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8P913ZT8YXLCKRZCHOOINS5CQ
- Story Text: INTRODUCTION: Turkey's military government disbanded all political parties last week (16 October). The country's ruling generals said the move was part of their plan to establish a new democracy, free of extremism and corruption.
SYNOPSIS: It was the first time since Turkey became a republic in 1923 that all political parties had been dissolved.
Among the political headquarters closed down in Istanbul were those of the conservative Justice Party which, under Suleyman Demirel, alternated in power during the 1970's with the People's Republican Party, of Bulent Ecevit. A special regulation was needed to disband Mr. Ecevit's party, which was founded by Kemal Ataturk, the creator of modern Turkey, who turned the country into a secular, Western-style society.
Also dissolved was the National Salvation Party, an Islamic fundamentalist movement whose leaders are on trial by martial law courts. The government's move came a day after the naming of a consultative assembly which will draw up a new constitution and a political parties law.
Turkey's politicians have been accused by the generals of wilfully failing to compromise, causing paralysis in Parliament, and allowing the formation of violent left and right-wing factions which brought the country to the edge of civil war.
STREET SCENES STOCKSHOTS
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