The Motherland Party (, abbreviated as ANAVATAN, formerly ANAP) is a political party in Turkey. It was founded in 1983 by Turgut Özal. It merged with the Democratic Party in October 2009, but in the September of 2011 the party was re-established again. Its current president is İbrahim Çelebi. The ANAP was considered a centre-right neoliberal, conservative and nationalist party that supported restrictions on the role that government can play in the economy and also supported private capital and enterprise and some public expressions of religion. The 1983 Turkish general election was won by the new Motherland Party, led by Özal. Although the party was composed of a potentially disruptive mixture of Islamic revivalist and secular liberals, he was able to form a majority government, and briefly, democracy was restored. History In the National Assembly elections on 6 November 1983, the Populist Party and the Motherland party were allowed to run for office. The ANAP won 212 of the 400 available seats and Turgut Özal, the leader of the party, became the Prime Minister. The ANAP maintained a majority in the government of Turkey from 1983 until 1991. Turgut Özal held the position of Prime Minister from 1983 to 1989, then President from 1989 to 1993. Özal died in office, and was succeeded by the True Path Party leader, Süleyman Demirel. After the 1983 National assembly, ANAP allowed all political parties to participate in the local elections. In 1987, ANAP removed the 10-year ban on over 200 leaders of the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi—CHP) and Justice Party (Adalet Partisi—AP), allowing them to run for office and participate in political affairs. The ANAP won 292 of the 450 seats that year. During this time, the ANAP leaders transformed the Turkish economy by beginning free-market reforms, particularly cutting down the public area and moving towards privately owned business. In 1987, the ANAP-led government filed for admission into the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union. However, this attempt to enter the EEC was ended when the ANAP criticized the customs union of the EEC and decided the admission terms prescribed by the EEC to be not in the best interest of Turkey or its people. In 1991 ANAP lost the majority to a coalition of the True Path and Social Democrats parties. After its longest run, the ANAP has had few opportunities to return to leadership. In 1995,