Halkevleri

The Halkevleri (Turkish for "Peoples' houses") is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting Kemalist ideas, culture, arts, history, and sports among the Turks. It was established by the Republican People's Party in 1932, in the course of the Turkish Revolution, and managed to rally millions into local community centres until its closure in 1951, when the Democrat Party ascended to the government.

Following the 1960 coup d'état, which overthrew the Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, the subsequent democratic reforms paved the ways to the rebirth of Halkevleri, this time rather as an independent NGO that does not receive government funding ─ although it was not considered as effective as the original Halkevleri, it still succeeded in community outreach, only to be shut down by the 1980 coup d'état, ending up in imprisonment of prominent figures and the confiscation of its properties.