The
Democrat Party (
Turkish:
Demokrat Parti, DP for short) was a Turkish moderately right-wing political party, and the country's third legal opposition party, after the
Liberal Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Firkasi) established by
Ali Fethi Okyar in 1930, and the
National Development Party (Milli Kalkinma Partisi) established by
Nuri Demirag in 1945. Founded and led by
Celâl Bayar, it was the first of the opposition parties to rise to power, de-seating the
Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) during the national elections of 1950 and ending Turkey's one party era. The party facilitated the resurgence of Islam, especially at the popular level, in Turkey.