As a result, Özkan was forced to resign, nearly half of DSP's parliamentarians followed him including İsmail Cem, the Minister of Foreign affairs.

[1] Özkan, Zeki Eker, Cem and Kemal Derviş, the Minister of State in charge of economy, then decided to establish a new social democratic party.

Most of the electorate was critical of the government because of the economic crises in 2000 and 2001, as well as the poor health of Ecevit.

However, things started to look bad for NTP as the party showed signs of organizational weakness.

Moreover, Derviş changed his mind and joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) instead.