Great Unity Party

The Great Unity Party (Turkish: Büyük Birlik Partisi, BBP) or Great Union Party is a far-right Islamist and nationalist political party in Turkey, created on 29 January 1993.[2] It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization,[3] and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between cultural nationalism and Islamism, and separated itself from the Nationalist Task Party (MÇP), which was renamed to Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in July 1992.[2]

Great Unity Party Büyük Birlik Partisi
Leader	Mustafa Destici
Founded	29 January 1993 (1993-01-29)
Split from	Nationalist Movement Party
Headquarters	Ankara, Turkey
Youth wing	Alperen Ocakları
Ideology	Turkish-Islamic synthesis Sunni Islamism Turkish ultranationalism[1] Social conservatism
Political position	Far-right
National affiliation	People's Alliance
Colours	Red      White
Grand National Assembly	1 / 600
Metropolitan municipalities	0 / 30
District municipalities	10 / 1,351
Provincial councillors	6 / 1,251
Municipal Assemblies	269 / 20,498
Party flag
Website
www.bbp.org.tr
Politics of Turkey Political parties Elections

Although it is claimed that the founder of the party Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu left the MHP for lack of religious convictions, this should be seen rather as a speculation as Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu rarely blamed the MHP or talked about the separation. The rift between Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and Alparslan Türkeş actually started after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. Alparslan Türkeş defended himself in the infamous speech in which he declared "My opinions and beliefs are of the same as the generals who organized the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, yet I am in prison" speech during trials after the coup. The ideological separation started then and reached the surface after Alparslan Türkeş dismissed the Ankara headquarters of the MHP after the 1992 MHP Congress. The delegates had elected the candidate supported by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu rather than the candidate of Alparslan Türkeş environment. Türkeş's dismissal, seen to show an anti-democratic approach, was the final blow to the relationship between the young clique who had suffered during the 1980 coup and were against anything anti-democratic, and the old clique which circled around Alparslan Türkeş and believed in a nationalist-socialistic way of democracy.

The party has been represented in the Parliament only via electoral coalitions with popular parties. At the 2002 legislative elections, the party won 1.1% of the popular vote and no seats; in the 2007 elections Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was elected as an independent. In 2009 local elections the BBP's candidate was elected as the new mayor of Sivas.