When multi-party politics was initiated in Turkey in 1946, rival interpretations of Kemalism emerged to confront the challenge posed by the center-right's surmounting electoral victories. While the left-populist interpretation led by Ecevit gained considerable momentum, there was also a parallel yet less visible formation of a reaction against it—namely, conservative republicanism. From the mid-1960s onwards, left populists and conservative republicans waged a serious political rivalry which temporarily foreshadowed the important similarities they shared due to the legacy of Kemalism. Following the failure of left populism in the late 1970s, these similarities gradually resurfaced and the left populists have withdrawn to the reactionary position of conservative republicanism which fits the language of frustrated elites.
