It was founded on 7 June 1990 by seven members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly expelled from the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP).
[3] Its politicians held speeches in front of audiences of up to 10,000 people in Southeast Turkey, which was deemed a danger to public security by the Turkish authorities.
On 16 April 1993 chairman Ahmet Türk and five other MPs traveled to the Bar Elias in Lebanon, demanding a prolongation of the cease fire declared by the PKK before.
[9] Due to the overt promotion of Kurdish cultural and political rights, the party was banned by the Constitutional Court in July 1993.
[1] In 2002 the European Court of Human Rights held that, since its methods and aims were peaceful and democratic, its dissolution was not justified as "necessary in a democratic society" as required by Article 11 and granted Feridun Yazar, Ahmet Karataş and Ibrahim Aksoy each €10,000 and another €10,000 combined due to the banning of their party.