The Republican People's Party, known as the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) in Turkish and also called the People's Party or People's Union prior to 1924, is a social democratic political party in Turkey, founded on 9 September 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The party became the dominant political organization of Ataturk's one-party state, advocating secularism, free education, and democracy. It was a paternal autocratic party under Ataturk, as Ataturk was considered the "Father of the Turks" and given near-absoulte power over a one-party state; Ataturk handpicked his successor Ismet Inonu. However, the party has moved to the left since the end of World War II, during which both Nazi Germany and the Allied Powers unsuccessfully attempted to court the Turkish government's help. After 1965, the party became a social democratic party, abandoning its previous authoritarian orientation in favor of left-wing politics. The six arrows of the party's flag represent republicanism, nationalism, statism, populism, laicite, and revolution, the principles that Ataturk had stood for. The CHP constantly fought for control of the Turkish government with the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), which betrayed Turkey's secular ideals.
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