Denk (Dutch pronunciation: [dɛŋk]; Dutch for "think" and Turkish for "equal" or "balanced"^[18]) is a political party in the Netherlands, founded on a minority rights platform.^[19] It is legally registered as "Politieke Beweging Denk" (Political Movement Denk).^[20]

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Denk
Leader	Stephan van Baarle
Chairman	Ejder Köse[1]
Leader in the House of Representatives	Stephan van Baarle
Founders	Tunahan Kuzu Selçuk Öztürk
Founded	9 February 2015
Split from	Labour Party
Headquarters	Lodewijk Pincoffsweg 503,Rotterdam
Youth wing	Jongerenbeweging Oppositie[2]
Think tank	Wetenschappelijk Instituut Statera[3]
Membership (2024)	3,594[4]
Ideology	Minority interests: Turkish Dutch interests[5][6][7][8] Moroccan Dutch interests[9][10][11] Afro Dutch interests[12] Dutch Muslim interests[13] Social democracy[14] Social conservatism[11][15][16]
Political position	Centre-left[17]
Colours	Turquoise   Orange
Senate	0 / 75
House of Representatives	3 / 150
Provincial councils	0 / 570
European Parliament	0 / 29
Website
bewegingdenk.nl
Politics of Netherlands Political parties Elections

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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.^[21]

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".^[12] Indeed, Denk's current party leader and lijsttrekker in the House of Representatives, Stephan van Baarle, is an agnostic.^[22]

The party BIJ1 was founded 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 (wherein Denk is more conservative).

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.^[23] This came after an internal party debate sparked by a report incorrectly stating that 90% of young Turkish Dutch supported ISIS.^[24][25] On 9 February 2015, they named their parliamentary group "Denk", and they published a political manifesto for the establishment of a movement focused on a tolerant society through measures such as the introduction of a registry of racists who could not be hired by the government.^[26]

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.^{[27][28][non-primary source needed]}

The Denk programme argues for the following five points:

• a tolerant society in which we accept each other.
• a caring society in which we look out for each other.
• a learning society in which we utilize everyone's talents.
• a sustainable society where we have to think about our environment.
• a just society, promoting international justice.

The movement wants to establish a monument in memory of labour, and they want knowledge of migration history as a key target in education. They propose that the term "integration" should be replaced by the word "acceptance". The movement would abolish the term "immigrant". It notes that people with a non-western background are less likely to find a job or internship and often have negative experiences with law enforcement. The manifesto states that racism in the Netherlands is structural and institutional in nature and therefore wants a so-called "racism registry" to be set up, in which manifestations of racism are registered.

The movement proposes that in education, diversity in the classroom is commensurate with the diversity of the class (including the teacher). The movement has a policy that in every school in the Netherlands, both in primary and secondary education, study of Chinese, Arabic, and Turkish must be introduced as optional subjects. According to the movement, education in these languages will be useful for the country's economy and international relations. According to the manifesto, imams should not only be appointed to mosques, but also in health care, prisons and the armed forces.

Denk's view is that the United Nations and its Security Council need fundamental reform and that the European Union should pursue an independent foreign policy. The movement wants to tackle Islamic extremism by tackling its root causes, which, according to the party, consist of hopelessness, social exclusion, and injustice. On the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the party advocates that Europe strengthen the international position of Palestine and that the Netherlands recognises the State of Palestine.

The party carries the program advanced by the International Institute for Scientific Research, based in The Hague, with the purpose of decolonization.^[12] Among its policies, Denk seeks to: establish a "racism register" to track and condemn the use of hate speech against religion; build a Dutch slavery museum; abolish the black character Zwarte Piet ("Black Pete"); and ban the use of the Dutch word "Allochtoon" which it considers as derogatory towards ethnic minorities in the Netherlands.^[12]

The party has been described as pro-immigration^[29][18][30] and supporting multiculturalism,^[31][32] as well as being identified with identity politics.^[33]

The party mainly attracts support from ethnic minorities in the Netherlands, especially from the Turkish and Moroccan population. Correspondingly the support for Denk is the strongest in cities and towns with a significant migrant population, especially in larger cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. In these cities the support for the party is concentrated in majority-minority districts, such as Nieuw-West in Amsterdam or Kanaleneiland in Utrecht, gaining between 30 and 40% of the votes in those districts.^[34]

In the 2023 Dutch general election, three MPs from Denk were elected:^[41]

• Ismail el Abassi
• Stephan van Baarle
• Doğukan Ergin

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