Political developments in Turkey, 1950–70

Abstract

The elections of May 14, 1950, which brought the Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti) of Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes, President and Premier in 1950-60 respectively, to power and sent the Republican Party (Cumhurriyet Halk Partisi) of Ismet Inonii into opposition (it is still there) was the turning point in Turkish political and social life. It set into motion a new process of leadership selection, social mobilization and broader popular participation. Now, twenty years after this memorable political event, one may rightly ask whether the Turkish efforts to adopt first the classical mechanism of European parliamentarianism and then the ideas of social democracy were successful at all. The answer is positive, despite the brief interlude of a military takeover in 1960-61. Instead of restoring a strong regime under one party government, as demanded by some intellectual and bureaucratic groups, the military ended their rule formally in 1961, by adopting a broadly based social and political order and a new constitution. The success of the Turkish experiment in parliamentary democracy stands in sharp contrast not only to the political regimes in the neighbouring countries but also to most of the Third World. It is true that the present regime in Turkey has been challenged by a variety of leftist and rightist groups, either because it supposedly retards modernization and does not achieve social justice, or because the economic development and the social change it promotes undermine the basic values and the established order in the society. But the regime seems to maintain its vitality. The purpose of this article is not to provide broad generalizations about Turkish politics but a general and factual analysis of some of the major internal and international developments occurring between 1950 and 1970. Nevertheless, in order to place these developments in proper perspective it is necessary to point out some basic historical and social factors which conditioned, at least in part, the emergence of the current parliamentary regime. The first factor is a historical one. The Turkish Republic inherited from the Ottoman Empire not only a strong bureaucratic organization but also a sophisticated political understanding of conflicts and experience in solving them. One may say that throughout the nineteenth century the Ottoman bureaucracy, despite its internal weaknesses, sought to reconcile the social and ethnic conflicts rising from the encounter with, as well as the pressure of Europe, its own traditions of authority and social organization. This tradition was based on the principle that the role of the government was to achieve balance among various forces and interests within the framework of a political system. The social and cultural system on one hand, and the political system on the other, were manipulated in practice as separate entities subject to their own exigencies. The ability of the Ottoman bureaucracy to separate in practice-the theory was rather ambiguous-