New Turkey Party was a political party 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...

. It was founded in 2002 following a leadership crisis in the Democratic Left Party

Democratic Left Party (Turkey)

The Democratic Left Party is a Turkish political party founded on November 14, 1985, by Rahşan Ecevit.-1985-1999:The DSP, a social democratic oriented party, was registered on November 14, 1985 by Rahşan Ecevit, wife of Bülent Ecevit, as he was banned from political life after the 1980 coup...

  that was the major partner in a three party coalition government

Coalition government

A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

.

The health condition of elder statesman Bülent Ecevit

Bülent Ecevit

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit was a Turkish politician, poet, writer and journalist, who was the leader of Republican People's Party , later of the Democratic Left Party and four-time Prime Minister of Turkey.- Personal life :...

, the Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Turkey

The Prime Minister of the Turkey is the head of government in Turkish politics. The prime minister is the leader of a political coalition in the Turkish parliament and the leader of the cabinet....

 and leader of the party led to rumours that his Deputy Prime minister and Minister of State, Hüsamettin Özkan, was plotting to replace him. As a result Özkan was forced to resign. However, nearly half of DSP's parliamentarians

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 followed him including İsmail Cem

Ismail Cem

İsmail Cem İpekçi was a Turkish politician, journalist, statesman and former minister of foreign affairs.- Background :...

, the Minister of Foreign affairs. Özkan, Cem and Kemal Derviş

Kemal Dervis

Kemal Derviş is a Turkish economist and politician, and former head of the United Nations Development Programme. He was honored by the government of Japan for having "contributed to mainstreaming Japan's development assistance policy through the United Nations." In 2005, he was ranked 67th in the...

, the Minister of State in charge of economy and the former Vice President of the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, then decided to establish a new social democratic party, Yeni Türkiye Partisi. Cem became the leader of the party.

The new party was received warmly by the public opinion. Most of the electorate was critical of the government because of the economic crises in 2000 and 2001 as well as the poor health of Ecevit. However, things started to look bad for YTP as the party showed signs of organizational weakness. Moreover, Derviş changed his mind and joined the Republican People's Party

Republican People's Party (Turkey)

The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...

 (CHP) instead. As a result, the YTP performed dismally in the November 3, 2002 general elections (receiving only 1.2% of the eligible votes cast) and again in the March 2004 local elections.

In October 2004, the YTP was merged into the Republican People's Party

Republican People's Party (Turkey)

The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...

(CHP).