I have often used the terms interchangeably. I was not trying to tie American Democrats to any Turkish parties. However, I have edited the original post for accuracy.
That’s fine, thanks. That misnomer began as a communications edict from the Republican National Committee, I think in the nineties. It used to be you could identify Republican operatives or heavy partisans by the use of this shibboleth, but it’s been so wildly successful that’s not even necessarily true anymore. The level of discourse is forever lowered.