Great Unity Party

The Great Unity Party (Turkish: Büyük Birlik Partisi, BÜYÜK BİRLİK) is a far-right Sunni Islamist political party in Turkey, created on 29 January 1993 by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, who broke off from the Nationalist Task Party (predecessor of the modern MHP) after a quarrel with Alparslan Türkeş. The BBP's youth wing is the Alperen Hearths.

Although it is claimed that the founder of the party Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu left the Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) for lack of religious convictions, this should be seen rather as a speculation as Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu rarely blamed the MHP or talked about the separation. The rift between Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and Alparslan Türkeş actually started after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. Alparslan Türkeş defended himself in the infamous speech in which he declared "My opinions and beliefs are of the same as the generals who organized the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, yet I am in prison" speech during trials after the coup. The ideological separation started then and reached the surface after Alparslan Türkeş dismissed the Ankara headquarters of the MHP after the 1992 MHP Congress. The delegates had elected the candidate supported by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu rather than the candidate of Alparslan Türkeş environment. Türkeş's dismissal, seen to show an anti-democratic approach, was the final blow to the relationship between the young circle who had suffered during the 1980 coup, and the old guard which circled around Alparslan Türkeş.

The party has been represented in the Parliament only via electoral coalitions with popular parties. At the 2002 legislative elections, the party won 1.1% of the popular vote and no seats; in the 2007 elections Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was elected as an independent. In 2009 local elections the BBP's candidate was elected as the new mayor of Sivas.

Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu affirmed the BBP's goal for Turkey by saying: "our cause is 'we love the creation because of the creator'. We do not separate people as Laz, Circassian, or Kurdish, we will not separate them. We are people living in the same land and under the same flag. Kurds are our brother, PKK is our enemy. We need to see this difference. We are against gangs, the mafia, and a junta. We want to have real deputies in the TBMM. Let the legislate, the executive, the judiciary be separate. Limit immunities. Let the speech of politicians on the podium be free. The party of the politician who gave his opinion should not be closed." About Ergenekon he said "If there is a junta, if there is a gang, let it all be engraved. Let Turkey really be a democratic country".