Liberal Democratic Party (Turkey)

Liberal Democratic Party

Liberal Demokrat Parti
Liberal Democratic Party Liberal Demokrat Parti
	File:LDPLogoTransparentNF.png
Abbreviation	LDP
Leader	Gültekin Tırpancı
General Secretary	Kaan Alper
Founder	Besim Tibuk
Founded	26 July 1994; 29 years ago
Headquarters	Meşrutiyet Caddesi No: 23 Kızılay – Ankara
Youth wing	Young Dolphins
Membership (2022)	4,860
Ideology	Classical liberalism; Liberal democracy; Progressivism; Libertarianism; Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre to centre-right
Colours	Blue; White
Slogan	Özgürlüğümü seviyorum! (I love my freedom!)
Website
	http://ldp.org.tr/
	Politics of Turkey; Political parties; Elections;

The Liberal Democratic Party (Turkish: Liberal Demokrat Parti, LDP) is a classical liberal party in Turkey. LDP was founded in 1994 as “Liberal Parti” by Turkish entrepreneur Besim Tibuk.

Tibuk was the advisor of Turkish President Turgut Özal until Özal died on 17 April 1993. After the death of Turgut Özal, Besim Tibuk decided to found a new party to emphasize the liberal movement in Turkey. Tibuk first founded the party as Liberal Party but then changed its name to "Liberal Democratic Party".

After the failure of his party in the 2002 general elections, Tibuk resigned. Cem Toker was the leader of LDP from 20 June 2005 to 29 January 2017. Since then, Gültekin Tırpancı has been the leader of the party.

According to data published in January 2021, the party has 5,227 members. The party uses unorthodox humorous language in its official Twitter accounts.^[4]

Policies

Presidential system

Changing Turkey's parliamentary system, arguing that brought political instability advocate for the full US style presidential system based on the separation of powers. He also opposed the presidential system of the government on the grounds that it does not comply with the separation of powers. He also supported the "No!” vote in the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum.^[5]

Party leaders

#	Leader	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1	Besim Tibuk	26 July 1994	25 November 2002	8 years, 122 days
2	Cem Toker	20 June 2005	29 January 2017	11 years, 223 days
3	Gültekin Tırpancı	29 January 2017	Incumbent	7 years, 159 days

Turkish general elections performance

Election date	Party leader	Total votes	Percentage of the total votes	Deputies (number)
1999 Turkish general election	Besim Tibuk	127,174	0.4%	0/550
2002 Turkish general election	Besim Tibuk	89,177	0.3%	0/550
2007 Turkish general election	Cem Toker	36,717	0.1%	0/550
2011 Turkish general election	Cem Toker	15,599	nil	0/550
June 2015 Turkish general election	Cem Toker	27,167	0.1%	0/550
November 2015 Turkish general election	Cem Toker	26,816	0.1%	0/550
2018 Turkish general election	Gültekin Tırpancı	Not eligible to contest		0/600

References

^ "Genel Merkez Teşkilatı | Liberal Demokrat Parti".
^ "@gencyunuslarldp" on Twitter
^ "Liberal Demokrat Parti" (in Turkish). Court of Cassation. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
^ "twitter.com/liberaldp". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
^ "Başkanlık Sistemi | Liberal Demokrat Parti". 2013-10-21. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2021-07-16.

External links

Liberal Democratic Party official website
Liberal Democratic Party Youtube page
Liberal Democratic Party Twitter account

[1] "Genel Merkez Teşkilatı | Liberal Demokrat Parti".

[2] "@gencyunuslarldp" on Twitter

[3] "Liberal Demokrat Parti" (in Turkish). Court of Cassation. Retrieved May 28, 2022.

[4] "twitter.com/liberaldp". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-09-21.

[5] "Başkanlık Sistemi | Liberal Demokrat Parti". 2013-10-21. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2021-07-16.

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