The party was formed by a core group of working cadres of the now banned MNP, with Süleyman Arif Emre serving as the registered founding chairman.
[1] Given the banning of the MNP by the staunchly secular state, only 19 individuals were ready to form the party.
[3] In 1974 it formed the coalition government with the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) of Bülent Ecevit.
The National Turkish Student Association (Millî Türk Talebe Birliği, MTTB) was the party's youth organization.
The founding members of the MSP were:[6] Abdülkerim Doğru, Rasim Hancıoğlu, Hüseyin Kamil Büyüközer, Abdullah Tomba, Sabri Özpala, M. Turhan Akyol, Halit Özgüner, M. Gündüz Sevilgen, Zühtü Öğün, Hüseyin Erdal, Hüseyin Koçak, Hasan Özkeçeci, Osman Nuri Önügören, Mazhar Gürgen Bayatlı, M. Emin Ayak, Mustafa Arafatoğlu, Mustafa Mamati, Abdurrahim Bezci and Sami Baysal.