The Democratic Turkish Union of Romania (Romanian: Uniunea Democrată Turcă din România, UDTR; Turkish: Romanya Demokrat Türk Birliği, RDTB) is an ethnic minority political partyinRomania representing the Turkish community.
Democratic Turkish Union of Romania Romanya Demokrat Türk Birliği Uniunea Democrată Turcă din România | |
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| Leader | Osman Fedbi |
| Founded | 1 February 1990[1] |
| Headquarters | 44 Crișana Street, 900573 Constanța |
| Ideology | Turkish minority politics |
| National affiliation | National Minorities Parliamentary Group |
| Chamber of Deputies |
1 / 329
|
| Senate |
0 / 136
|
| European Parliament |
0 / 32
|
| Website | |
| www | |
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The party was created in 1990 as a split from the Turkish Muslim Democratic Union of Romania (which subsequently became an organisation solely for Romanian Tatars), and was initially named the Ethnic Turkish Minority Union of Romania (Uniunea Minoritară Etnică Turcă din România, UMETR).[2] In the 1992 general elections the party received only 2,572 votes (0.02%),[3] but won a single seat in the Chamber of Deputies under the electoral law that allows for political parties representing ethnic minority groups to be exempt from the electoral threshold. In December 1993 it adopted its current name,[2] and has won a seat in every election since, including in the 2020 general elections, when it received 0.06% of the vote.[4] The party also has representation on Constanța County Council.
The logo of the Turkish Democratic Union of Romania is a globe that is the symbol of the Turkish ethnicity (crescent and star), being framed at the bottom by two olive branches, symbolizing peace. At the base of the globe is the name of the Turkish Democratic Union of Romania, framed by the Romanian tricolour, representing the support that the Romanian state gives to the Turkish ethnic group for the preservation of the spiritual-cultural-religious identity.
The main objective of the party is to protect and promote the ethno-cultural, linguistic, and religious identity of its members:
| Election | Chamber of Deputies | Senate | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Elected member | Votes | % | Seats | |
| 1990 | – | – | 1 | Hogea Amat | – | – | – |
| 1992 | 2,572 | 0.02 | 1 | Ruşid Fevzie | |||
| 1996 | 4,326 | 0.04 | 1 | Osman Fedbi | – | – | – |
| 2000 | 6,675 | 0.05 | 1 | Metin Cerchez | – | – | – |
| 2004[5] | 7,715 | 0.08 | 1 | Iusein Ibram | |||
| 2008 | 9,481 | 0.13 | 1 | Iusein Ibram | – | – | – |
| 2012 | 7,324 | 0.10 | 1 | Iusein Ibram | – | – | – |
| 2016 | 5,536 | 0.08 | 1 | Iusein Ibram | – | – | – |
| 2020 | 3,540 | 0.06 | 1 | – | – | – | |
| Term | President |
|---|---|
| 1990–1991 | Sheriff Ziadin |
| 1991–1994 | Talip Revan |
| 1994–1997 | Fedbi Osman |
| 1997–2001 | Balgi Ruhan |
| 2001 | Asan Murat |
| 2001 | Iusein Ibram |
| 2001–2004 | Ibram Nuredin |
| 2004– | Fedbi Osman |