The
Social Democracy Party (
Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi,
SODEP) of
Erdal İnönü and the
People's Party of
Aydın Güven Gürkan were founded in 1983 with the revival of democracy after the
military coup of 1980. In 1985, the
Social Democracy Party and the
People's Party merged to create the Social Democratic Populist Party. In the
1989 local election, the SHP emerged as the strongest party with 27.8 percent of the vote, winning in six metropolitan areas, 39 provinces, and 283 districts. The
Kurdish question placed the party under serious strain as the MPs
Ahmet Türk, Mehmet Ali Eren,
Mahmut Alinak, Kenan Sönmez, Ismail Hakki Önal, Adnan Ekmen and Salik Sumer were of Kurdish origin. This was at a time when use of the
Kurdish language was forbidden in public and private life. Some of these MPs wanted to take part in the Kurdish Conference in Paris in 1989, to which Chairman İnönü wanted to agree. But after it emerged that representatives of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) could also take part, participation was forbidden. The seven took part anyway and all were expelled from the party, As a result,
Aydın Güven Gürkan, 12 other MPs of the SHP, dozens of regional party administrators and 3000 party members resigned from the SHP. During the
1991 Turkish general election, the SHP formed an
electoral alliance with the pro-Kurdish HEP. After the 1991 general election, the SHP became a partner in the coalition government and İnönü became deputy prime minister (11/20). In the coalition agreement, the SHP insisted on lifting the ban on pre-1980 parties which were dissolved by the military government. The pre-1980 parties were authorized on 19 June 1992. This was risky for the SHP. Shortly after legalization, a group of SHP MPs resigned from the party and reformed the
Republican People's Party (CHP), Erdal İnönü's father's party (most party members were pre-1980 CHP members). The SHP and the CHP, two similar parties, co-existed for a while. On 6 June 1993, İnönü announced that he was planning to resign and
Murat Karayalçın was elected as the new president of the party on 11 September 1993. Then the CHP and the SHP agreed to merge on 29 January 1995. Former foreign minister
Hikmet Çetin (SHP) became the interim chairman and the merged party chose the name of CHP after İnönü's suggestion. ==Leaders==