Turkey's 'Green Party' announces establishment
Turkey's greens established a political party named “Green Party” and filed an application with the Interior Ministry on Sept. 21. Party co-chair Koray Doğan Urbarlı said that the green movement exists in Turkey for many years but they have been conducting works to transform the initiation into a party for a year now. Urbalı said that apart from the climate crisis, the new party will propose solutions with regards to issues such as social gender, democracy and freedom.
Müzeyyen Yüce / DUVAR
A new party has been established under the name of “Green Party” in Turkey. The party applied to the Interior Ministry on Sept. 21, becoming the 18th party that announced its establishment in the year of 2020.
The party has 110 founding members, with an equal participation of men and women. The party aims to develop unique and radical policies to tackle the political and economical impacts of the climate crisis.
The party has announced its 10 key principles as follows: “Harmony with nature, fight with climate crisis, peace and non-violence, social gender equality and feminism, global struggle, local and direct democracy, sustainability, fair distribution, free life and pluralism.”
The party has two co-chairs: Koray Doğan Urbarlı and Emine Özkan. Urbarlı said that they previously had a council but about a year ago took a decision to run efforts within the framework of a political party. “We will continue our works to extend our organization in the upcoming days. There is now a Green Party in Turkey,” Urbalı said.
Urbarlı said that the green politics has been for some time on the rise in the world but is a new concept in Turkey.
“The greens are mostly a structure that aims for ecological policies, but apart from them also includes policies of peace, democracy and freedom, and which has a correspondence in the international politics. Our aim for founding a party is to conduct works with regards to issues such as social gender, democracy and freedom, apart from climate crisis,” he said.
“We are establishing a structure that is based on pluralism, non-violence and participation; counts diversity as richness; and aims for direct democracy.”
The “Green Party” has become the second party in Turkey after the “Greens and the Left Party of the Future” that has founded itself on the green movement.