DENK (political party)

DENK (dɛŋk; Dutch for "think" and Turkish for "equal" or "balanced") is a political party in the Netherlands, founded on a minority rights platform. It is legally registered as "Politieke Beweging Denk" (Political Movement Denk). The party was founded by Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk, two Turkish Dutch members of the House of Representatives, after leaving the Labour Party on 13 November 2014. Upon winning three seats at the 2017 election, DENK became the first migrant-founded party to gain seats in the Dutch national parliament. Although the party has been colloquially described as a "Muslim political party", DENK "does not promote Muslim candidates as do most similar political parties in Europe". Indeed, during DENK's second State elections in 2021, Stephan van Baarle, an agnostic, also became a DENK member of the House of Representatives. The party BIJ1 was created by Sylvana Simons when she left DENK in 2016, and the two parties overlap substantially on minority rights issues but are divergent on cultural liberal aspects. DENK was founded by Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk after leaving the Labour Party on 13 November 2014. Their resignations were prompted by proposals by Deputy Prime Minister and party leader Lodewijk Asscher that a number of Turkish Islamist organisations be monitored for interfering with the integration of Dutch citizens of Muslim origin. This came after an internal party debate sparked by a report incorrectly stating that 90% of young Turkish Dutch supported ISIS. On 9 February 2015, they gave their parliamentary group the name DENK and published a political manifesto for the establishment of a movement for migrants and a "tolerant and solidary society" which, among other things, calls for a "racism registry". The results from the 2017 election ensured that Kuzu and Öztürk would remain in parliament together with new arrival Farid Azarkan, who is the current party leader. The movement drew up a political manifesto in February 2015, from which the political party DENK emerged in November 2016.