A CONTRIBUTION TO TURKISH HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY STUDIES: EVALUATION OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND ITS PROGRAM

Abstract

The Social Democratic Party is one of the political groups established during the armistice period. The party was based on the Wilson Principles, where great hopes were nourished at that time, and was established to develop the Ottoman State in line with the needs of the age. The center of the party is Istanbul. An official application was filed on December 22, 1918 for the establishment of the Social Democratic Party. The head of the party was Hasan Riza, who was both a teacher and a doctor, Deputy Chairmans of the party were Kaztm and Retired Brigadier General Halit, the party's Secretary General was Yorgaki Habib, the party's Assistant Scribe was Doctor Lebib, the party's Cashier was Cemal and the party's Deputy Cashier was Salim. The members of the party were Mehmet Sait, Teacher Osman Nuri, Teacher Abdullah, Attorney Cemil El-Subliti, Retired Colonel Hamdi, Captain Seyit Ali and Ibrahim Bey. Although the Social Democratic Party does not leave a deep trace in Turkish political history, it is a remarkable political structure for the history of Turkish democracy; because it has a source identity in terms of showing the concepts of social democracy and social policy that are frequently emphasized by humanities today that began to be discussed in Turkey since the Ottoman era. In other words, the concept of social democracy and one of the first attempts to establish policies to be developed in this direction was carried out by this party. Therefore, the party is not a target point in the history of social democracy, but it is a signpost on the way to the goal. The Social Democratic Party, like many other political parties established during the armistice period, lost its functionality after the 1919 elections and withdrew from Turkish political life and it failed to turn into a long-term political structure. On the basis of the most original sources reached within the scope of this research, the Social Democratic Party and the party program were analyzed from various perspectives and various evaluations were made on these issues.