Zeybek elected new head of Turkey's DP

Namık Kemal Zeybek, a veteran center-right politician, salutes the crowd at the Democrat Party convention after being elected party leader. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Namık Kemal Zeybek, a veteran center-right politician, was elected the new leader of the Democrat Party, or DP, at a party convention Saturday.
“This is the convention for the rebirth [of the DP],” Zeybek told party members after he secured the party leadership against five other candidates. Hüsamettin Cindoruk, a very experienced politician who had controlled the party since late 2008, did not run for another term. Among the other candidates were Ahmet Özal, son of the late President Turgut Özal, and former minister Rıfat Serdaroğlu.
The Democrat Party is one of the most deeply rooted political institutions in Turkey and ruled the country between 1950 and 1960 under Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who was executed along with two aides following a coup d’état in 1960. The DP was re-established in the early 2000s following the demise of two mainstream center-right parties, but it was unable to garner more than 3.4 percent of the votes in the last general elections.
“This is just a beginning. The DP will have a resurgence. I ask you all to work hard to spread the policies of the DP to the voters,” Zeybek said.
In an interview with the private channel NTV on Saturday, Zeybek said his goal was to ensure the DP overcomes the electoral threshold and enters Parliament during the next general elections in June. The party needs to win at least 10 percent of the popular to gain seats in Parliament.
Born in the northeastern province of Bayburt in 1944, Zeybek first entered Parliament in 1987 with the Motherland Party, or ANAP. He served as former President Süleyman Demirel’s advisor between 1992 and 1994 and then re-entered Parliament with the True Path Party, or DYP. He also served as a state minister in Tansu Çiller’s cabinet.