Politics of Discontent in the Midst of the Great Depression: The Free Republican Party of Turkey (1930)

Turkey experienced two major attempts of multi-party politics in the inter-war era. The Free Republican Party came into being as a political response of the ruling nationalists to the growing discontent in the society because of the Great Depression. The new party rapidly received mass support, especially in the commercialized regions of the country, realizing itself in local branch development, in a western Anatolian tour of its deputies, and in the municipal elections of 1930. However, the FRP survived only three moths when the ruling elite became alarmed by the mass mobilization of the new party and paved the way for its dissolution.

This study, which is based on extensive investigation of contemporary newspapers in commercial centers, reveals the FRP on the periphery and shows that social groups other than the nationalists also had a word in the politics of the day, offering a perspective 'form below' to interpret the history of inter-war Turkey.

(Approved by Prof. Dr. Sevket Pamuk, Prof. Dr. Çaglar Keyder, Assist. Prof. Asim Karaömerlioglu)