Political Parties, and Elections in Turkey

The Political Parties, and Elections in Turkey

The Turkish party system has undergone significant changes since the 1940s, moving from a two-party system to one encompassing a multiplicity of parties—and resulting in a highly fragmented parliament. The contributors to this volume assess the intertwined effects of party fragmentation and voter volatility in Turkey. Presenting a wealth of data, they illuminate the trajectory of democratic consolidation, as well as underlying issues of representation, participation, and governability.

Contents

Introduction
Yılmaz Esmer / 1

1 The Changing Party System
Sabri Sayarı / 9

2 An Overview of Electoral Behavior: Toward Protest or Consolidation of Democracy?
Frank Tachau / 33

3 Elections and Governance
Ersin Kalaycıoğlu / 55

4 Local Elections and Electoral Behavior
Nihal İncioğlu / 73

5 At the Ballot Box: Determinants of Voting Behavior
Yılmaz Esmer / 91

6 An Analysis of the Electorate from a Geographical Perspective
Ali Çarkoğlu and Gamze Avcı / 115

7 Ethnic and Religious Bases of Voting
Ayşe Güneş-Ayata and Sencer Ayata / 137

8 Realignment and Party Adaptation: The Case of the Refah and Fazilet Parties
Birol A. Yeşilada / 157

9 Conclusion
Sabri Sayarı / 179

Appendixes /185
References / 217
The Contributors / 227
Index / 229
About the Book / 237

INTRODUCTION

The first parliament in Ottoman/Turkish history convened in 1876, though, admittedly, this was an extremely short-lived experiment. There was a second attempt in 1908, but that, too, lasted for only a brief period. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey established itself as a constitutional parliamentary system in 1923. In the eight decades that followed the opening of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the number of years during which the country was governed without a parliament was less than five—not an easily dismissible track record for a new republic with limited economic resources and a long history of autocratic rule.

With respect to universal suffrage, Turkey was ahead of many contemporary consolidated democracies. For instance, Turkish women were granted the right to vote in 1930. Only four years later, their right to stand for election was recognized, while French women had to wait for ten, Belgian women for fourteen, Greek women for eighteen, and Canadian women for twenty-six more years to gain unrestricted access to electoral politics. Indeed, it was the 1970s when women’s suffrage became a reality in Switzerland and Portugal. Neither were there any poll taxes, literacy tests, or similar restrictions on universal suffrage in Turkey.

The first multiparty elections in republican Turkey were held in 1946, though there is general agreement that these were not completely free and fair. However, only four years later, the government changed hands peacefully and democratically through popular election. Thus, at the turn of the twenty-first century, Turkey could celebrate a half-century of free elections. To the casual observer, this, in itself, may not seem very significant in the post-Soviet era. But we might recall that as recently as the late 1980s, “in a world of over 160 states, there are only about 30 democracies where the government stands a real chance of being replaced through the ballot box” (Harrop and Miller 1987, 7)...

POLITICS, PARTIES, AND ELECTIONS
IN TURKEY

EDITED BY
SABRİ SAYARI AND YILMAZ ESMER

Published in the United States of America in 2002 by
Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
1800 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado 80301
www.rienner.com

and in the United Kingdom by
Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
3 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8LU

© 2002 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Politics, parties, and elections in Turkey / edited by Sabri Sayarı  and Yılmaz Esmer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58826-022-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Political parties—Turkey—History—20th century. 2. Elections—Turkey—
History—20th century. 3. Turkey—Politics and government—20th century.
I. Sayarı, Sabri. II. Esmer, Yılmaz R.
JQ1809.A795 P67 2002
324.9561—dc21
2001058461

British Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book
is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.
5 4 3 2 1

Sabri Sayarı is the executive director of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University. His publications include Turkey’s New World: Changing Dynamics in Turkish Foreign Policy (coedited with Alan Makovsky).

Yılmaz Esmer is a professor of political science at Boğaziçi University, Turkey. He is the author of Revolution, Evolution, and Status Quo: Social, Political, and Economic Values in Turkey.