The REFAH (1983-1997)

The Welfare Party (Refah in Turkish) was established in July 1983. It is an islamic fundamentalist party which opposes integration within the European Union and supports closer ties with neighbouring Islamic states.

The Welfare Party participated for the first time in local elections in March 1984 and won 4.8% of the votes.

Necmettin Erbakan, who was banned from politics after the 1980 military take-over, acquired his rights to do politics by a referendum held in 1987 and he became the same year the leader of the Refah.

The party participated to the 1987 general elections and won 7.2 % of the votes. It failed however to enter the parliament because the 10 % threshold.

The support to Refah was increasing steadily. In the local elections of March 1994, Refah won municipalities of 5 major cities (Istanbul, Ankara, Konya, Kayseri, Erzurum and Diyarbakir) 28 provinces and approximately 400 towns and districts.

The success was even bigger in the general elections of 24 December 1995. The party won 158 seats on a total of 550 and became the largest political party of the country. It then formed a coalition government with Mrs. Ciller’s True Path Party. Mr. Erbakan became the first Islamist prime minister of the secular Turkish Republic. In spite of his promise during the 1995 election campaign to "tear up all agreements with Israel", military cooperation between Israel and Turkey was strengthened during his stay in power.

The FAZILET (1997- )

In April 1997 the coalition government led by Mr. Ebakan fell apart under pressure of the military and the party was banned in January 1998 by the Constitutional Court. Leaders of Refah immediately created a new party : "Fazilet", the Virtue Party. All the Refah deputies - at least those who were not deprived from their political rights - joined Fazilet.

Fazilet, led by Recai Kutan, took part in the general and local Turkish elections of April 1999 but lost the leading position inherited from the Refah. With some 21.3% of the votes and 111 seats (out of 550) in the Parliament, it became the third political party in Turkey, behind the DSP of Bülent Ecevit and the MHP of Devlet Bahceli.

(April 1999)