Political Development of Turkey

Abstract

This article is divided into three main parts: the Historical Setting, the Constitutional System, and Contemporary Politics. The first part analyzes the Ottoman-Turkish political developments from the start of the reform period to the transition to a competitive party system (1789–1946). Indeed, Turkey offers an interesting combination of elements of change and continuity. On the one hand, the change from the multinational and multireligious Ottoman monarchy to a Westernizing, republican nation-state represents a sharp break with the past. On the other hand, below this surface of radical change one can observe strong elements of continuity, such as an authoritarian and statist political culture that prioritizes the “sublime interests of the state” (raison d’état) over individual rights and liberties. It is also true that the main center-periphery cleavage in contemporary Turkish politics had its roots in the Ottoman past. The center-periphery cleavage in the Turkish context denotes the cleavage between the central military and bureaucratic state elites, on the one hand, and all social segments that remain outside this center, on the other. The second part focuses on the present constitutional system, with references to earlier constitutional developments. It will be observed that none of the Ottoman and the republican constitutions, with the partial exception of that of 1921, were made by a freely elected and broadly representative constituent or legislative assembly through a process of genuine deliberations and compromises. Consequently, they all lacked sufficient democratic legitimacy. The third part analyzes various aspects of contemporary Turkish politics, from the democratic transition in the mid-1940s up to the present time. One of the most striking facts about contemporary Turkish politics is that, despite nearly seventy years of multi-party competitive politics, Turkey has not yet been able to fully consolidate its democratic system and, since 2013, it has been experiencing a drift toward authoritarianism. This part also deals with such challenges as the rise of political Islam and of Kurdish nationalism.