The Democrat Party (), abbreviated to DP, is a liberal conservative Turkish political party, established by in 1983 as the True Path Party ( or DYP). It succeeded the historical Democrat Party and the Justice Party, two parties with similar ideologies. Their sister party is the Good Party. The DYP is seen as a centre-right party. DYP's history spans back to the historical conservative Democrat Party, established in 1946 with the introduction of a multi-party system in Turkish politics. There have been four DYP governments since its foundation; one led by Süleyman Demirel, the other three by Turkey's first and only female Prime Minister, Tansu Çiller. The party now has two seats in the Grand National Assembly, elected in the lists of the Good Party during the 2018 general election. On 5 May 2007, it was announced that DYP and the Motherland Party (ANAP) would merge to form the Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti). For that occasion, DYP renamed itself (based on the historical Democrat Party), and it was planned that ANAP would join the newly founded DP. Shortly before the election, however, the merging attempt failed. However, ANAP stated it would not contest the upcoming elections. After the DP only got about 6% of the votes in the 2007 general election, Ağar resigned as party leader. DYP and the Motherland Party eventually merged in November 2009. The modern DP's logo, a horse upon a red background, derives from the popular mispronunciation of its name, Demokrat Parti. The word Demokrat did not readily roll off the tongue of rural voters, who found it easier to say Demir Kırat ("iron white horse"). After the renaming in mid-2007, the logo became a white horse on a red map of Turkey in order to evoke this mondegreen. History Background The DYP's predecessor was the Democrat Party (, DP), which was a conservative party responsible for relaxing Turkey's strict secularism laws. The party was suppressed in the 1960 military coup d'état and later reestablished as the Justice Party (Adalet Partisi, AP), which was disbanded in the coup of 1980. Both parties staunchly rivaled the social democratic Republican People's Party (CHP). The military overthrew their governments on several occasions: In 1960, the Adnan Menderes government was deposed and Menderes himself was executed; on March 26, 1971, the government of party veteran Demirel was threatened with military intervention and forced to resign; and on September 12, 1980