The Republic of Turkey has functioned under
a multi-party system since 1945, generally allowing a wide array of political
groups to represent the population. However, the Turkish democracy has
experienced three military interventions, with
the latest coup taking place in 1980 sweeping Süleyman
Demirel (who later founded the DYP party) away from
premiership. In 1983, the military allowed Turkey to return to civilian
power and appointed Turgut Özal (leader of ANAP
party) as Prime Minister.
A new Constitution was drafted and from 1987 onwards all political parties were allowed to participate in the elections, until the Refah (Wellfare) Islamist Party was dissolved in January 1998 and banned by the Constitutional Court.
The Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (Great
National Assembly of Turkey) has 550 members, elected for a five-year
term by proportional representation and conditional on a 10% threshold.
The last legislative elections took place in November 2002 (the previous took
place in April 1999), won by AKP (Justice and Development Party) with 34.27% of
the total votes. First Abdullah Gul became the Premiere
of the new Government, and lately
Recep Tayyip Erdogan succeeded him. CHP got 19.39%
of the votes and became the opposition party. All other political parties
couldn't
pass the 10% threshold thus stayed outside of the parliament.
But thanks to some members of other parties in power who
resigned and joined DYP, today this party is also represented
with 4 members automatically.
A comparison of the seats these parties held in the Turkish
Parliament before (Oct 27) and after Nov 3, 2002:
MHP (National Movement Party, 57th
government partner) 124 vs. ZERO.
DSP (Democratic Left Party, 57th
government senior partner) 58 vs. ZERO.
ANAP (Motherland Party, 57th
government partner) 71 vs. ZERO.
DYP (True Path Party) 81 vs. ZERO
YTP (New Turkey Party) 58 vs. ZERO
SP (Felicity Party) 46 vs. ZERO
AKP (Justice and Development Party) 59 vs. 360
CHP (Peoples Republican Party) 3 vs. 190
TOTAL in Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM): 550
DSP (The Democratic Left party) : founded in 1985
by Rahsan Ecevit, wife of Bülent
Ecevit (while he was banned from political life after the military
coup of 1980), this centre-left party has been led since 1987 by Bülent
Ecevit. It was a minority party until it won 76 parliamentary seats
in the December 1995 general elections. The DSP approves of Turkish membership
in NATO and adhesion to the European Union although it criticized the content of the
Customs Union. DSP, boosted by the capture of Abdullah
Ocalan, leader of the terrorist PKK organization,
while its leader was prime minister, won 22% of
the votes in the general elections of April 1999 and took the most seats,
136, in the 550-member
Turkish Parliament. It's
leader, Bülent Ecevit is bound
to be, for the fifth time, Prime Minister. During the
last elections in 2002, they got only 1.21% of the votes and couldn't go to the
parliament.
MHP (National Action Party) : ultra-nationalist
party (also known as the Grey Wolves, from the name of it's youth movement)
founded in 1969 by the late Alparslan Türkes. Structured as a typically
para-military organization, MHP was largely responsible for the escalation
of violence in the late seventies. MHP was dissolved after the 1980 coup
while Türkes and others were convicted in the early 80’s for the murder
of several public figures. In 1995, Türkes is allowed to reconstitute
MHP and take part in the elections which earned the party 8.5% of the vote.
Türkes’ funeral in april 1997 drew 300.000 people including politicians
of all parties. Türkes has been succeeded by Dr. Devlet
Bahceli, in spite of the opposition inside the party of Tugrul Türkes,
son of the party's founder. MHP became the second Turkish political party
after the April 1999 general elections and got 129 seats in the Assembly.
It's new leader Bahçeli is
drawing a different profile than earlier leaders and bringing a new line
for their politics different from their past. During the last elections in 2002,
they got only 8.34% of the votes and couldn't go to the
parliament.
AKP (Justice
and Development Party) : Founded in 2001 as a pro-Islamist party by
Mr. Erdogan and
Mr. Gul, AKP gradually gained higher votes in
each local and general elections surprising other political parties. In 2002
they became as the first party from the polls, with
Abdullah Gül first as the
Premiere, then Tayyip Erdogan after
his political ban ended. All three coalition parties eliminated.
CHP emerged as main opposition. For the first time in almost two decades,
AKP ended up forming a single-party government.
AKP rejects the "Islamist" label and claims that it is a
pro-Western mainstream party with a "conservative" social agenda but also a firm
commitment to liberal market economy and European Union membership. Today they
have 367 members in TBMM.
FAZILET (The Virtue Party): In April 1997 the
coalition government led by Mr. Erbakan
fell apart under pressure of the military and the party was banned in January
1998 by the Constitutional Court. Leaders of Refah (Wellfare Party) immediately created
a new party : "Fazilet", the Virtue Party. All the Refah deputies - at
least those who were not deprived from their political rights - joined
Fazilet. Fazilet, led by Recai Kutan, took part in the general and local Turkish
elections of April 1999 but lost the leading position inherited from the
Refah. With some 21.3% of the votes and 111 seats (out of 550) in the Parliament,
it became the third political party in Turkey, behind the DSP
of Bülent Ecevit and the MHP
of Devlet Bahceli.
ANAP ( The Motherland Party) : founded in
1983 by Turgut Özal, ANAP stands in the centre
right of the political spectrum. It governed Turkey from 1983 to 1991;
formed a brief governmental coalition with the DYP in
1995 and then back to power from July 1997 to November 1998 with Mesut
Yilmaz at its head. It transformed the Turkish economy in the eighties,
introducing free-market reforms and down-sizing the public sector, and
also applied formally to join the EEC (European Economic Community, today's EU) in 1987. While in opposition, ANAP
criticized the Customs Union with the EU arguing that its terms were not
in Turkey’s interests. ANAP was one of the big looser in the April 1999
elections and became the fourth Turkish party with 14% of the votes. Following
these elections, ANAP got 86 seats in the Parliament.
During the last elections in 2002, they got only 5.12% of the votes and couldn't
go to the parliament.
DYP (The True Path Party) : founded in 1983
by Süleyman Demirel (although banned from
the elections after the coup of 1980 until 1987),
is conservative and draws strong support from the countryside. Despite
the fact that its political and economic program is almost identical
to ANAP’s, the two parties compete for power rather
than cooperate to form strong coalitions. As a result, the division of
the right has facilitated the Refah (Wellfare) islamist party’s rise to power in 1995.
In the 1991 general elections, the DYP obtained a narrow majority of votes
and formed a coalition government with the centre left party SHP. In 1993,
Demirel succeeded Özal
as President of Turkey and was replaced as head
of the party and Prime Minister by Tansu
Ciller. Economic reforms became the cornerstone of the DYP’s policy
under her leadership. Membership of NATO and other strategic alliances
as well as the application to join the EU were enthusiastically maintained
while the Customs Union with the EU was negotiated and concluded. After
the April 1999 elections, DYP became the fifth party in Turkey,
with 12% of the votes. During the last elections in 2002, they got only 9.55% of
the votes and couldn't go to the parliament.
But thanks to some of the members who resigned from their political parties in
power and joined DYP, today the party is represented in TBMM
automatically with 4 members.
CHP (The Republican People’s Party) : created
in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is now
led by Deniz Baykal. It has been a stronger centre-left
party since its fusion, in February 1995, with the then main left-wing
party SHP. The fusion has however prompted many ex-SHP politicians to defect
from the CHP party and join the DSP ranks. Many blamed
the former for not being left-wing enough: Baykal was indeed in favor
of liberal economic policies and of the Customs Union in general. Following
the general elections of April 1999, CHP - which obtained only 8.7% of
the votes - disappeared from the Parliament for
the first time in its history. Baykal was seen as the responsible of this
defeat and he lost the control of the party after the Extraordinary Grand
Congress of CHP and he resigned. During the last elections in 2002, Baykal
re-gained his seat and they were able to get 19.39% of the votes, thus became
the second and the main opposition party in the parliament.
Today they have 174 representatives in TBMM.
HaDeP (People’s Democracy Party) : a Kurdish
political party which was established in 1994 to replace the DeP party
(closed down by a court order). HaDeP took part in the 1995 elections and
won 4.2 % of the vote. Prevented by the 10% threshold system to enter the
Parliament,
it gave most of its votes to the Welfare (Refah) Party so as not to waste them. HaDeP
was the only legal party allowed to represent Kurdish interests (unlike the
outlawed PKK). The party took part in the April
1999 municipal and general elections. Once again, HaDeP failed to reach
at the national level the 10% threshold for seats in the Assembly but won
massively in some cities in the south-eastern
regions of Turkey (i.e.. in Agri, Batman,
Bingöl,
Diyarbakir,
Siirt,
Van). After these elections the party was banned by the
Constitutional Court and renamed as DEHAP. During the last elections in 2002,
they got only 6.22% of the votes and couldn't go to the
parliament.
GP (Genç Parti - Young Party): Founded by a young businessman Cem Uzan
in 2002. During the last elections in November 2002, they
miraculously got 7.24%
of the votes in only 3 months of political life, but still couldn't go to the
parliament. because of 10% threshold for seats in the
Assembly.
Please Click Here to see all past Governments of Turkey.
|