Democratic People's Party was a Kurdish nationalist

Kurdish nationalism

Kurdish nationalism is the political movement that holds that the Kurdish people are a nation deserving of a sovereign homeland, Kurdistan out of the territories where Kurdish people form a majority...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. DEHAP was founded 24 October 1997. It was the continuation of the People's Democracy Party

People's Democracy Party

People’s Democracy Party was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. It was founded in May 1994 by lawyer Murat Bozlak. The party adopted a moderate course and kept its distance from the issue of the PKK....

 (HADEP), which was banned in March 2003 by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it supported the Kurdistan Workers Party

Kurdistan Workers Party

The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...

.

At its last legislative elections

Turkish general election, 2002

Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...

 in November 2002, the party won 6.2% of the popular vote, thus not reaching the 10% threshold for gaining representation in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

Grand National Assembly of Turkey

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...

.

On 17 August 2005 DEHAP announced its merger with the Democratic Society Movement (DTH) founded by Leyla Zana

Leyla Zana

Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...

 to form Democratic Society Party

Democratic Society Party

The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...

(DTP).

requirement)