Following the decision to end armed struggle in 2002, activists of the
Hizbullah's Menzil group founded an association called "Solidarity with the Oppressed" (
Turkish: Mustazaflar ile Dayanışma Derneği or short Mustazaf-Der) in 2003.[b][13] It also became known as the Movement of the Oppressed (
Turkish: Mustazaflar Hareketi). On 18 April 2010, Mustazaf Der organized a mass meeting in
Diyarbakır to celebrate the anniversary of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad's birthday (known as
Mawlid). The Turkish police estimated that the event was attended by 2 million people. The organizers put the figure at over 2.5 million people.[14]
On 20 April 2010, a court in Diyarbakır ordered the closure of the Association for the Oppressed (Mustazaf-Der) on the grounds that it was “conducting activities on behalf of the terrorist organization Hizbollah.”[14] The decision was confirmed by the
Court of Cassation on 11 May 2012.[15]
In late 2012, the Movement of the Oppressed announced its will to found a political party, to challenge the hegemony of the left-wing and
Kurdish nationalistPeace and Democracy Party.[16] On 17 December 2012, the Free Cause Party (Hür Dava Partisi) was founded.[17] On 9 January 2013, the general headquarters in
Ankara was opened.[18]
Societies affiliated with HÜDA PAR operate under the umbrella organisation Lovers of the Prophet (
Turkish: Peygamber Sevdalıları,Kurdish: Evindarên Pêyxamber) particularly active in Kurdish Mawlid meetings.[19]
The party has been described as "an extreme Islamist party" and as "the political wing of the Iranian-backed
Kurdish Hizbullah".[21][22] The Association for Solidarity with Mustazafs (
Turkish: Oppressed) (Mustazaf-Der) was established in 2004 to support those arrested and their families as a result of the police operation named as Beykoz Operation targeting Hezbollah. The association was closed in 2012 on the grounds that it was a continuation of Hezbollah. After the association was closed, then, since it was difficult to close political parties in Turkey, Movement of the Oppressed (Turkish: Mustazaflar Hareketi) continued its activities by founding the Free Cause Party.[23][24][25]
Free Cause Party calls for the
constitutional recognition of the
Kurds and
Kurdish language, mother tongue education, the end to the 10 percent election threshold, and the decentralization of state power and strengthening of local administration.[26] The party also advocates for restrictions on the freedom of religion and worship to be lifted, the headscarf ban ended, wants adultery criminalized, and religious marriages to be recognized.[27] Moreover, the party demands that the Turkish state apologize to Kurds and reinstate
the original names of Kurdish-populated places.[28] The party has largely been silent on the question of Kurdish autonomy or independence from Turkey.[29] The party is
opposed to LGBT rights, and routinely denounces the
HDP, a left-wing party supporting Kurdish minority rights, for supporting it.[30][31] Despite forming from a splinter group that made promises to end armed struggle, third-party sources describe the party as strongly affiliated with the
Kurdish Hezbollah.[32][33][34] Some[who?] have pointed out that the party's abbreviation, "Hüda-Par", is synonymous with "Hezbollah", both meaning "Party of God".[35]
^Hüdâ translates to "God", or perhaps more accurately "The Lord", a substitution for the word
Allah.[12] Therefore, the party's self-styled abbreviation reads "Party of God".
^Girit, Selin (11 May 2023).
"Turkey elections: Young voters who could decide Turkey's future". BBC News. Istanbul. Retrieved 12 May 2023. One of the party's in his People's Alliance is an extreme Islamist party called Huda Par (Free Cause) and that has raised concerns among female MPs in his own AK Party.
^Kurt, Mehmet (2017). Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey - Islamism, violence and the state.
London: PlutoPress. p. 45.
ISBN978-0-7453-9934-8.
^Emel Elif Tugdar; Serhun Al (2017). Comparative Kurdish Politics in the Middle East: Actors, Ideas, and Interests. Springer. p. 127.
ISBN9783319537153.
^"Hüda- Par'dan 9 ilde bağımsız aday". Al Jazeera Turk - Ortadoğu, Kafkasya, Balkanlar, Türkiye ve çevresindeki bölgeden son dakika haberleri ve analizler (in Turkish).
Al Jazeera. Retrieved 10 April 2020.