The Concept of Democracy in the Policies and Discourses of the Republican People's Party (RPP) in the 1946 Elections

Abstract

In this study, the policies of the Republican People's Party (RPP) in the general and local elections held in 1946, the discourses of party members and party supporters were discussed in the context of the concept of “democracy,” and their effects on domestic politics were searched. First of all, external and internal factors that were effective in Turkey's multi-party system were discussed. In this context, the victory of the democracy front in the World War II, the signing of the United Nations Constitution, and the necessity to take measures against the increasing Soviet threat caused Turkey to turn its face to the West. All these external factors signaled the democratic steps that would take place in Turkey in the years following 1945. In addition, the socio-economic problems experienced before and after the war, the pressures of the RPP government, and the extreme dissatisfaction of the people due to all these reasons made the political system be bound to change. In addition to these problems, the disagreements in the RPP regarding the “The Land Distribution Law”, “Budget Proposed Law” and the “Memorandum of the Four,” which caused great debates in domestic politics, were mentioned. As a result of those as mentioned above external and internal factors, how Turkey turned into a multi-party system was mentioned, and in this context, the establishment of the Democrat Party (DP) and the expectations and discourses of the RPP about this party were discussed. Afterward, the effects of the II. RPP Extraordinary Congress, which had a great impact on domestic politics, were mentioned. In this congress, RPP also decided to hold the general election earlier than planned, together with the local election. With the early elections, the RPP wanted to show the world public opinion that the system was democratic and tried to preserve the current one-party rule by preventing opposition parties from getting stronger. The study has an important and unique quality in terms of showing that democracy could not be fully adopted due to the policies and discourses of the RPP and that it could not find an applicable area within the one-party system. The main purpose of the research was to include the politics of domination that the RPP was trying to establish on the DP and the entire state system, by addressing the anti-democratic discourses and political steps of the RPP. The literature review method was used in the research, and archival sources constituted most of the research. In this context, the RPP's policies on democracy in the 1946 elections, the discourses of party members and supporters of the party were investigated by analyzing the important national and local newspapers of the period, the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), and political party minutes, party programs and election manifestos. The study has revealed that the RPP's policies regarding the 1946 elections, the discourses of party members and party supporters were incompatible with the concept of democracy and that this concept could not be assimilated. Especially what happened in the general election has caused this election to be remembered as a “shady election” in Turkish political history. As a result of the events that took place in both elections, it has been understood that the RPP was trying to maintain its position in the state with its traditional, tutelary one-party understanding of democracy rather than trying to maintain the multi-party democratic system.