Republican People's Party Research Articles

Ideological indoctrination and propaganda in the anti-Kemalist press of the early 1930s

In the article, that author presents a detailed analysis of the propaganda tactics employed by both Kemalist and anti-Kemalist forces during the early 1930s. It draws upon a diverse array of source material, including the Turkish newspapers, such as “Nation” (Ulus), “Time” (Vakit), “Republic” (Cumhuriyet), and the opposition daily “Free Republic” (Serbes Cumhuriyet), which ran from October 1930 to January 1931. The latter was established as the official print media of the Free Republican Party (FRP), which was headed by a close associate of the President, Ali Fethi (Okyar). The daily became the mouthpiece of moderate liberal movement, while concurrently turning into a weapon of ideological confrontation between the FRP and the incumbent Kemalist Republican People’s Party (RPP). The study of the opposition newspaper represents a novel approach within the Russian academic literature, as there have been no previous attempts to examine the perspective of those opposed to the Kemalists, or to analyse the representation of the main ideas of the FRP in the press. The research focuses on the analysis of anti-Kemalist propaganda in the “Free Republic” newspaper. The plethora of propaganda clichés present on its pages renders “Free Republic” a valuable source for studying the ideological shift that occurred during the early 1930s. It demonstrates the efforts to devise an alternative programme for the development of the Turkish Republic and enables the reconstruction of the ideological and political context of the Kemalist unsuccessful endeavour to establish a controllable opposition in 1930. Although it had the potential to gain a foothold in the market, the “Free Republic” newspaper ultimately succumbed to the forces of pro-government press propaganda. Despite its ambitious and courageous editorial stance, the opposition daily could not withstand the formidable and sophisticated propaganda apparatus of the Kemalists.

THE INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE AND THE PRESS BEFORE THE MAY 27, 1960 COUP: PRESS-POLITICS RELATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN CHP MEMBERS AND JOURNALISTS

This article examines the relationship between the Democrat Party (DP) and the opposition press in the period leading up to the 27 May 1960 military coup. Following the 1957 elections, the DP sought to exert greater control over interactions between the press and the opposition by establishing the Investigation Commission. The focus of the article is on the surveillance of telephone conversations between members of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and journalists by the DP government, and how this surveillance was utilised as a tool to tighten control over the opposition. The wiretapping not only monitored political activities but also impacted the independence of the press, limiting the public’s access to accurate information. The DP's attempts to regulate the opposition and the media weakened the functioning of democracy and restricted press freedom in Turkey. This article analyses the effects of these measures, how wiretapping harmed press-politics relations, and the broader implications for democracy during this period.

Proximity or Directional Model of Voting for the Turkish Voter?

Voting behavior is a very complex type of political behavior. Therefore, understanding why voters vote for a particular political party or a candidate requires developing complex models. In 1957, Anthony Downs, who built his model on Hottelings’ and Smithies’ models, argued that political parties’ and candidates’ ideological and issue positions can be expressed on a one-dimensional space. On one hand, it was highly reductionist to argue that political ideas on a particular issue can be expressed this way, on the other, it was highly practical from analytical point of view. Locating parties, candidates and voters on a one-dimensional space according to their ideological or issue positions was then a revolutionaly idea and helped comparing party, candidate and voter ideological and issue positions within and across countries. These models, which were called spatial models of party competition were further developed over time and helped understanding voting behavior. Currently, spatial models of party competition have two major competing models linking voter ideological positions with party ideological positions. Simply, while the proximity model proposes that voters vote for the parties or candidates that hold ideological positions in the political space that are closest to their own, the directional model suggests that the voters vote for the parties or candidates that are on their side of the two-dimensional political spectrum and more extreme than their own while being within the acceptability region. This research aims to test the applicability of these two voting models for the Turkish voter. Türkiye constitutes an interesting case study with its long-term PR electoral system as it was suggested in the extant literature that proximity model is a more appropriate tool to explain voting behavior in Proportional (PR) systems. Thus, we hypothesize that in Türkiye, where a PR electoral system is in effect for parliamentary elections, voter electoral preferences are better explained by the proximity model than the directional model. Our research analyzes Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) data for voters of the four major political parties in Türkiye, the Justice and Development Party (JDP), the Republican People’s Party (RPP), the National Action Party (NAP), and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). A series of Multiple Linear Regression Analyses were conducted to reveal associations between the dependent and the independent variables. Voter embracement, as expressed as like-dislike of each political party for each voter, is seperately used as the dependent variable for each analysis. Issue distance and issue scalar product were used as key independent variables representing the formulas for the proximity and the directional models, respectively. Additionally, education, age, gender and income were recruited as classical control variables. Comparing explanatory powers of the statistical models showed that, contrary to the findings of MacDonald and his colleagues, the proximity model of voting is a more appropriate tool than the directional model to explain voting behavior in Türkiye. From a macro-political perspective, this finding supports Westholm’s (1997) argument that the PR provides a more appropriate tool to explain voting behavior in PR systems. Yet, it should be noted that further multi-country comperative analyses required for certain results.

The search for economic and military aid in the shadow of crises: Turkish-American relations during İnönü governments (1961–1965)

The leader of Republican People’s Party (RPP), İsmet İnönü, formed three governments between 1961 and 1965. Turkey faced several political, economic, social and military challenges in this period. Turkish foreign policy also witnessed problems such as the crises that erupted in Cuba and Cyprus in 1962 and 1963, respectively. Both the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cyprus Crisis had serious effects on Turkish–American political relations, so a great deal of literature exists discussing these developments. At the same time, Turkey negotiated with the United States of America (USA) to obtain more economic and military aid, which has drawn less scholarly attention. This article aims to shed light on the negotiations between Turkey and the USA to show how Turkish decision-makers worked hard to obtain more economic and military aid from the USA in the shadow of these crises. This article argues that these crises did not negatively influence economic and military relations between the countries due to Turkey’s economic and military dependence on and strategic importance for the USA against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from the beginning of the Cold War.

Do Turkey's 2024 Local Elections Signal the End of Erdoğan's Reign?

AbstractThe unexpected victory of the opposition Republican People's Party in Turkey's March 31 municipal elections raises intriguing questions about the future of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after more than two decades of his rule. Just 10 months after Erdoğan won a new term, a significant portion of the electorate voted against him and his Justice and Development Party, marking his largest defeat ever. The president acknowledged the significance of the defeat, describing the results as “not only a loss of votes but also a loss of soul and blood.” This article analyzes the factors that drove the outcome and contends that this was more a protest of the Turkish strongman than an approval of opposition policies. The people voted against Erdoğan's arrogance and authoritarian style, as well as the poor quality of his party's candidates; the worsening economy, especially for retirees; and perceptions of a deteriorating justice system. The main opposition party also benefited from skillful leadership less than a year after its defeat in the presidential election. While the outcome of the 2024 vote signals a desire for democratic governance and accountability, it remains uncertain at this early stage whether this is a temporary deviation.

Social and economic determinants of electoral behavior in Turkey

PurposeIn this study the authors aim to comprehensively investigate the determinants of voting behavior in Turkey, with a specific focus on the dynamics of the center-periphery debate. Mainly, the authors focus on regional voting patterns during the period that is dominated by the Justice and Development Party (JDP/AKP) in the elections. The authors apply the random effects generalized least squares (GLS) methodology, and analyze electoral data covering four pivotal parliamentary elections (2007, 2011, 2015 and 2018) across all 81 provinces (NUTS III regions). The authors individually examine voting dynamics of the four major parties in parliament: the JDP/AKP, the Republican People's Party (RPP/CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (NMP/MHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP/HDP). The authors contribute to a comprehensive understanding of how socioeconomic cleavages, economic performance, party alignment and social dynamics shape voter preferences in the Turkish context, thereby addressing gaps in the existing literature.Design/methodology/approachThis research employs an ecological study of Turkish NUTS III sub-regions, covering national elections from 2007 to 2018. The authors utilize the random effects GLS method to account for heteroscedasticity and time effects. The inclusion of the June and November 2015 elections enables a comprehensive analysis of the evolving dynamics in Turkish voting behavior. The results remain robust when applying pooled OLS and fixed effect OLS techniques for control.FindingsThe study's findings reveal that economic performance, specifically economic growth, plays a pivotal role in the sustained dominance of the JDP/AKP party. Voters closely associate JDP preference with economic growth, resulting in higher voting shares during periods of economic prosperity. Along with economic growth; share of agriculture in regions' GDP, female illiteracy rate, old population rate, net domestic migration, terrorism and party alignment are also influential factors in the Turkish case. Furthermore, differences among sociocultural groups, and East–West dichotomy seem to be important factors that reveal the impact of social cleavages to understand electoral choice in Turkey.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by offering a comprehensive multidimensional analysis of electoral behavior in Turkey, focusing on the JDP/AKP dominance period. The main contribution of this study is its multidimensional perspective on the power bases of all main parties, considering key voter choice theories (cleavages, party alignment and retrospective economic performance voting) that have not been systematically analyzed in prior research. The main research question of this study is to examine which factors affect voting behavior in Turkey and how the dynamics of center-periphery or eastern-western region voting behavior under the JDP hegemony can be explained. The contribution of this study consists not only in its empirical testing of panel data approaches but also in its comprehensive analysis of four major political parties. Building upon existing studies in the literature, this research seeks to extend the understanding of voting dynamics for the four main parties in the parliament — JDP/AKP, RPP/CHP, NMP/MHP and PPDP/HDP — by delving into their dynamics individually, thereby expanding the scope of previous studies. This study aims to make a contribution by not only empirically testing panel data approaches but also conducting a comprehensive analysis of four major political parties. Furthermore, the separate inclusion of the 2015 elections and utilization of a panel data approach enrich the analysis by capturing the evolving dynamics of Turkish voting behavior. The study underscores the significance of socioeconomic factors, economic performance and social cleavages for voters' choices within the context of a dominant party rule.

Party Change in the Post-Secular Age: The Case of Republican People’s Party in Turkey

The Republican People's Party (RPP) of Turkey is currently the main opposition party against the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP). While the RPP has usually been identified with a “rigid” understanding of secularism, the party has been experiencing a process of ideational change for more than a decade under the leadership of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. This study aims to describe and explain the party’s shift to a “softer” version of secularism. Under the light of party change literature, one internal and two external factors are identified. The impact of leadership change, the internal factor, is examined with reference to major strategic and ideational changes initiated by Kılıçdaroğlu. The first major external stimulus is the global and local hegemony of post-secularism, which refers to the idea and practice of a new balance between citizenship and difference, allowing a greater space for religious arguments and images in the public sphere. The second is the transition to presidential system in Turkey, which both forced and facilitated the RPP’s search for electoral alliances with conservative parties in a personalized winner-takes-all game. It is claimed that these factors have made the RPP reassess the effectiveness of its commitment to classical secularism in meeting the renewed party goal of vote maximization. Reverse pressures on the party will also be examined in the article, with an aim of foreseeing the RPP’s leaning in the near future.
 Key Words: Republican People’s Party, Secularism, Post-Secular Society, Party Change
 JEL Classification: Z1, D72, Y80

1950 TÜRKİYE GENEL SEÇİMLERİNİN TEMSİLİYET MAKSİMİZASYONU YAKLAŞIMI BAĞLAMINDA DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

The 1950 elections in Turkey are of significant importance as they represent the first election in which the government changed hands through a democratic process. This study examines the 1950 elections in the context of the seat maximization approach. The study analyzes the decision taken by the ruling party at the time, the Republican People's Party (CHP), regarding the current electoral system, and the situation that arose as a result of the expectations related to this decision. The central argument of this study is that the decisions made by ruling parties to change or maintain the electoral system are shaped by the expectation of increasing their own representation. The study highlights the main issue that decisions taken by ruling parties within the framework of seat maximization may not always correspond with the resulting outcomes. In this study, the seat maximization approach is first introduced, followed by an analysis of the political and social structure of the period. Finally, the demands of political parties regarding the electoral system and the resulting outcomes are evaluated.

GÖÇMENLERE KARŞI TUTUMLARIN PARTİ TERCİHLERİNE ETKİSİ: TÜRKİYE ÖRNEĞİ

2011’de Suriye İç Savaşı’nın başlamasıyla bugüne kadar Türkiye’ye göç eden 3 milyon 750 bin civarındaki sığınmacı ile birlikte Türkiye siyasetinde göçmenlere karşı tutumlar da araştırılmaya başlanmıştır. Önceki çalışmalar göçmenlere karşı tutumların çeşitli boyutlarını analiz etmiş olsa da bu tutumların parti tercihlerine etkisi diğer ülkelere kıyasla Türkiye’de daha az çalışılmış bir konudur.
 Amaç: Bu çalışma 2018 yılında toplanan Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (2019) verisini kullanarak Türkiye’de göçmenlere karşı tutumların parti tercihine olan etkisini nicel yöntemler ile analiz etmektedir.
 Yöntem: Göçmenlere karşı tutumların parti tercihine etkisi farklı lojistik regresyon modelleri ile yapılan analizlerle ölçülmüştür. Kontrol değişkenleri olarak Türkiye siyasetinde daha önceden çalışılmış dindarlık ve sol-sağ düzlemindeki konum gibi merkez-çevre teorisine dayanan ve ekonomik oy verme davranışını ölçen değişkenler ile demografik değişkenler kullanılmıştır.
 Bulgular: Sonuçlar göstermektedir ki göçmenlere karşı olumsuz tutumlar arttıkça İyi Parti’ye oy verme olasılığı artarken, AK Parti’ye oy verme olasılığı azalmaktadır. Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’ne oy verme tercihi ile göçmenlere karşı tutumlar arasında sadece demografik değişkenlerle kontrol edildiğinde olumlu bir ilişki varken, dindarlık ve seçmenin sol-sağ düzlemindeki konumu ile birlikte kontrol edildiğinde ise bu etki istatistiksel olarak anlamsızlaşmaktadır. Son olarak ekonomik değerlendirmeler de regresyona eklendiğinde göçmenlere karşı tutumların parti tercihine etkisi tüm modellerde istatistiksel olarak anlamsız hale gelmektedir. 
 Özgünlük: Veri setindeki diğer ülkeler ile kıyaslandığında Türkiye’de göçmenlere karşı olumsuz tutumlar oldukça yüksekken bu tutumların parti tercihini belirlemede zayıf kalması yanıtlanması önemli bir soru olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır.

Bir Cumhuriyet Aydını: Cihad Baban’ın Gazeteciliği ve Siyasal Yaşamı

Irak’ın Süleymaniye şehri köklü ailelerinden Babanlar/Babanzadeler ailesinden gelen Cihad Baban, Cumhuriyet Dönemi’nde yetişmiş, önemli ve iz bırakan aydınlardan biridir. Mensubu bulunduğu Babanlar, Osmanlı Devleti’nin son döneminde ve Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde değişik ve yüksek mevkilerde bulunmuşlardır. Baban’ın ortaöğrenimi sırasında amatörce başlayan gazetecilik hayatı, 1934 yılında profesyonel bir hal almış ve neredeyse vefatına kadar kesintisiz devam etmiştir. İstanbul Hukuk Fakültesini bitiren Baban’ın en ağır basan özelliği donanımlı ve işin ehli bir gazeteci olmasıydı. Bu özelliği doğrultusunda gazeteciliği bir yaşam biçimi olarak özümseyen Baban, birçok gazetenin kuruluşunda öncü olmuş, hem kuruluşunda bulunduğu gazetelerde hem de diğer kimi gazetelerde başyazarlık yapmış, ayrıca değişik görevler ifa etmiştir. Gazeteciliği kadar olmasa da siyasi yaşamı ile de dikkat çeken Baban ikisi İstanbul, ikisi İzmir ve biri Çanakkale’den olmak üzere beş dönem milletvekili seçilmiş, iki defa da bakanlık koltuğuna oturmuştur. Bağımsız ancak Demokrat Parti yakınlığı ile başlayan siyasal yaşamında Hürriyet Partisi’nin ve Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin de önemli bir yeri vardır. 1946’dan 1960’ların sonuna kadar siyasetin içerisinde aktif bir şekilde bulunmuştur. 27 Mayıs 1960 Darbesi’nden sonra Basın-Yayın ve Turizm Bakanlığına getirilmiştir. Türkiye’nin dış siyasetinde de kendisine birçok kez sorumluluk yüklenilen Baban, 1970’lerde aktif rol üstlenmemiştir. 12 Eylül 1980 Darbesi sürecinde Kültür Bakanlığı ile siyasete yeniden aktif dönüş yapmıştır.

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

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.

DEMOKRAT PARTİ DÖNEMİNDE KIBRIS MESELESİNİN KONYA BASININA YANSIMASI VE 1958 KONYA MİTİNGİ

Doğu Akdeniz’de yer alan Kıbrıs Adası, 24 Temmuz 1923 tarihinde imzalanan Lozan Barış Antlaşması ile resmen İngiliz hâkimiyetine girmiştir. 1923-1950 yıllarını kapsayan Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi iktidarında, Kıbrıs konusunda aktif bir dış siyaset izlenememiş ve Lozan Antlaşması ile oluşan statükonun devamından yana bir tavır sergilenmiştir. 1950 seçimleri ile iktidara gelen Demokrat Parti döneminde ise Kıbrıs sorunu, Türkiye’nin en önemli dış politika meselelerinden birini teşkil etmiştir. Türkiye, Kıbrıs konusunda özellikle 1956 yılından itibaren politika değişikliğine giderek “adanın taksimi” tezini savunmaya başlamıştır. Türkiye’nin politika değişikliğine paralel olarak iç kamuoyunda da Kıbrıs meselesi gündemin ön sıralarında kendisine yer bulmuştur. 1958 yılına gelindiğinde Türk kamuoyuna hâkim olan kanaat, “Ya Taksim Ya Ölüm” haline gelmiştir. Kamuoyunun oluşturulmasında etkin araçlardan birisi olan basında, 1956 sonrasında Kıbrıs meselesi sık sık işlenmeye başlanmış, Türk basınında Kıbrıs’a yönelik haberlere daha geniş yer verilmiştir. Böylece toplumsal duyarlılık oluşturulmaya çalışılmıştır. Diğer taraftan ülke genelinde birçok miting gerçekleştirilirken bu mitinglerin topluma duyurulmasında ve etkisinin artırılmasında basın aktif olarak kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışmada Demokrat Parti iktidarında Kıbrıs sorununun Konya basınındaki yansımaları ele alınmıştır. Özellikle 1958 yılında Konya’da gerçekleşen Kıbrıs mitingi ve Konya basınına yansıması yerel basındaki verilerden hareketle aktarılmaya çalışılmıştır.

Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin Finike-Kaş Kaza Teşkilatı ve Halkevlerinin İnşası (1923-1951)

İzmir’in işgalinden sonra Antalya Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti, Eylül 1919 tarihinde ise Finike ve Kaş Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti kuruldu. 12 Mayıs 1924 tarihinde Antalya Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti, Halk Fırkası’na dönüştüğü sırada Finike ve Kaş kazalarında da aynı işlem gerçekleştirildi. Cumhuriyet devrinde Finike ve Kaş kaza idarelerinin kendilerine ait binaları olmayıp farklı mekânlarda hizmet verdikleri görülmektedir. II. Dünya savaşından sonra kazalarda Halkevi’nin yapımına başlaması ile partinin birer mülkü olabilmiştir. Ama Finike ve Kaş Halkevi binalarının tamamlanması uzunca bir zaman almıştır. Demokrat Parti’nin 8 Ağustos 1951 tarihinde çıkardığı kanun kapsamında Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin malları, Halkevi ve Halkodası hazineye devredilmiştir. Böylece Finike ve Kaş kazasında Cumhuriyet Halk Parti’nin herhangi bir mülkü kalmamıştır. Bu çalışmada Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin Finike ve Kaş Kaza İdare Heyetleri’nin faaliyetleri ile söz konusu kazaların Halkevlerinin inşası üzerinde durulmuştur.

Halkevlerinde Sinema Faaliyetini Yaygınlaştırma Çabaları ve Sınırlılıklar

1932 yılında Türkiye’nin farklı şehirlerinde açılan halkevlerinin temel amacı devrimin ilkelerini yaymaktır. Bu amaca ulaşmak için kullandığı araçlardan biri de sinemadır. 1930’lu yılların ortasından itibaren Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi mümkün olduğunca çok halkevinin sinema makinesi sahibi olması, halkevlerinde gösterilecek filmlerin tedariki ve halkevlerinde gösterimlerin düzenli bir şekilde yürütülmesi için çalışmalar yapar. Ancak, Parti örgütü halkevlerinde gösterilecek nitelikte “terbiyevi film” bulmak başta olmak üzere farklı sorunlar yaşayacak, bu sorunlara çözüm üretmek için çaba gösterecek, 1940’lı yılların sonuna gelindiğinde ilk baştaki hedeflerine ulaşmaktan uzak kalacaktır. Arşiv kayıtlarında yer alan Parti ve devlet aygıtının farklı birimleri ile halkevleri ve yerel yöneticiler arasında sinema konusunda yapılan yazışmaların temel alınacağı bu çalışmada halkevleri bünyesinde Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin sinemadan yararlanmak için yaptığı girişimler ve karşılaşılan sorunlar incelenecektir. Böylece Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin ilk yıllarında sinemadan propaganda aracı olarak yararlanma girişimleri hakkında temel bir çerçeve oluşturmak amaçlanmaktadır.

RECEP PEKER'S THOUGHTS ON FASCISM AND QUESTIONING A CLAIM

Atatürk’ün cumhurbaşkanlığı sırasında onun özel kalem müdürü ve genel sekreteri olarak görev yapmış Hasan Rıza Soyak’ın anılarında ne kanıtlanabilen ne de görmezden gelinebilen meşhur bir iddia yer almaktadır. Buna göre Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi Genel Sekreteri Recep Peker, İtalya ve Almanya’daki faşist partilere özenerek Türkiye’de de bir parti devleti yaratmak düşüncesiyle CHP için nizamname ve program taslakları kaleme almıştır. Peker’in bu çalışmaları Atatürk’ü çok kızdırmış ve nihayet onun Atatürk’ün gözünden düşmesine yol açmıştır. Recep Peker’in dünya görüşünü ve faşizme yaklaşımını ele alan çalışmaların büyük çoğunluğunda Soyak’ın anılarında anlattığı bu olay fazla sorgulanmadan doğru kabul edilmiş ve bu varsayım üzerinden çeşitli çıkarımlarda bulunulmuştur. Oysa Soyak’ın anıları ancak onun dönemin politik mücadelelerinde taraf olan bir figür olduğu unutulmadığında doğru değerlendirilebilir. Soyak, İnönü ve Peker’e mesafeli olan Atatürk’ün yakın çevresindeki kişilerden biridir. Bu iki kişiye göre daha liberal bir pozisyonu benimsediğini söylenebilir. Dönemin politik çatışmalarının etkileri, o dönem bu çatışmalarda taraf olan pek çok kişinin anılarına yansıdığı gibi Soyak’ın anılarında da yansımasını bulmuştur ve söz konusu anılar bu çerçevede okunmalıdır. Bilimsel açıdan daha verimli sonuçlar doğuracak olan, Soyak’ın belgelerle doğrulanamayan anılarına takılıp kalmak değil; fakat Peker’in faşizm konusundaki yaklaşımını onun kaleme aldığı metinler üzerinden incelemektir. Böylesi bir incelemede şu sorulara yanıt aramak yerinde olacaktır: Recep Peker’in çeşitli ideolojilere yönelik yaklaşımı hep aynı mı olmuştur? Eğer bu konuda bazı değişimler ortaya çıktıysa bunun sebepleri nelerdir? Çokça gönderme yapılan 1935’teki İtalya seyahati öncesi Peker ve CHP yöneticileri Avrupa’daki partilerin ve bu bağlamda faşist partilerin programlarından habersiz miydiler? Haberleri varsa, bu konu niçin 1935-1936’da aniden ortaya çıkmış gibi ele alınmaktadır? Recep Peker’in CHP’nin ideolojisi ve teşkilatlanması üzerindeki etkisi nedir, bu hususta parti içinde anlaşmazlıklar var mıdır ve bu anlaşmazlıklar, karşıtlarının Peker’in ideolojisini tanımlamalarına bir etkide bulunmuş mudur? Soyak’ın bahsettiği program ve nizamname taslakları bulunamadığına göre, Peker’in yazı ve konuşmalarından, parti örgütüne yaptığı tebligatlardan onun faşizme bakışıyla ilgili nasıl bir sonuca ulaşabiliriz? Bu çalışmada, dönemin Avrupasında etkili olan çeşitli ideolojiler gibi faşizmin de 1935’ten önce Kemalist entelektüellerce mercek altına alındığı ve liberalizmin 1920’li yıllarda yaşadığı çifte kriz sonrasında dünyanın farklı ülkelerinde de görülen pragmatik modernist eğilimlere Türkiye’de de rastlandığı, Recep Peker’in faşizme yönelik yaklaşımının da büyük ölçüde bu pragmatik modernist çerçeve içinde anlamlandırılabileceği öne sürülmektedir. Peker, Nazizm ve faşizm gibi görüşleri Türkiye açısından ideolojik bir tehdit olarak tanımlıyor, faşist akımlara reaksiyoner olmaları ve ırka dayalı milliyetçiliği savunmaları bakımından eleştirel yaklaşıyordu. Bununla birlikte otoriter bir dünya görüşüne sahip olan Peker, 1930’lu yıllarda Türkiye’de görülen otoriterleşme eğilimiyle birlikte liberalizm ve parlamentarizme yönelik daha sert eleştiriler dile getirmeye başlamıştı ve sınıf çatışmasına yol açtığını düşündüğü liberalizm ve sosyalizm gibi akımlara faşistlerin de karşı olmasını haklı buluyordu. Peker’in aldığı tepkiler, onun partiyi devlete hakim kılmaya çalışmasının ve zaman zaman pragmatik modernizmin sınırlarını zorlayan otoriter eğilimlerinin bir sonucuydu.

HASİP AHMET AYTUNA’NIN RAPORU IŞIĞINDA 20 ARALIK 1942 ERBAA-NİKSAR DEPREMİ VE TOKAT’TAKİ GELİŞMELER

İkinci Dünya Savaşı, Türkiye’de tek partili bir yönetimin egemen olduğu, yakın tarihin ülke ve insan kaynaklarında yarattığı tahribatın rehabilite edilmeye çalışıldığı bir süreçte, etkili olmuştur. Savaşın toplum yaşamı üzerindeki etkileri, Erzincan ve Erbaa’da meydana gelen büyük ölçekli depremler; merkezi yönetimin geniş kapsamlı organizasyon, bunu etkin biçimde toplumsallaştıracak mâlî kapasite ve insan kaynakları, altyapı ve ulaşım, organizasyonların uygulanmasında aktif rol oynayan personelin denetimi gibi ölçütler çerçevesinde sınandığı bir zamansallığı oluşturmuştur. Depremin akabinde Şükrü Saraçoğlu Hükümeti yaşanan felâketin, Erbaa, Niksar bölgesinde yarattığı olumsuzlukları gidermeye yönelik uygulama ve düzenlemeleri hayata geçirmiştir. Bu bağlamda ilkyardım, arama-kurtarma, iâşe, barınma, tedavi, vergilendirme, yeniden inşaa ve üretim alanlarında bölge sakinlerinin durumlarını iyileştirmeyi amaçlayan adımlar atılmıştır. VI. Dönem CHP Tokat Milletvekili Hasip Ahmet Aytuna 1942 Erbaa Depremi’nden sonra 1-10 Ocak 1943’te felâketin yaşandığı yerleşim yerlerini kapsayan bir inceleme gezisi gerçekleştirerek, hükümetin afet bölgesindeki olumsuzlukları rehabilite etmeye yönelik girişimleri ve sonuçlarını gözlemleme fırsatı bulmuştur. Tokat, Erbaa, Niksar ve Zile’de yurttaşlarla görüşen Aytuna, bir yandan felâketin boyutlarına tanıklık etmiş öte yandan sorunların önemli bir bölümünün savaş koşullarından kaynaklandığını saptamıştır. Aytuna yaptığı incelemeleri, görüşmeleri, gözlemleri ve değerlendirmelerini bir rapor haline getirerek Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi Genel Sekreterliği’ne sunmuştur. Rapor, yaşanan afetin ardından ortaya çıkan yıkımın istatistiki verilerini, iktidar ile yerel bürokrasinin aldığı önlemleri, bunların sahadaki etkilerini, eksikliklerini, tarımsal üretimdeki problemleri, vergilendirme politikasının yerel düzlemdeki yansımalarını, yolsuzlukları ve bunlara ilişkin olarak kendi değerlendirmelerini içermiştir. Aytuna’nın 21 sayfadan oluşan ayrıntılı raporu, savaşın belirleyici olduğu bir toplumsal çerçevede yaşanan doğal bir afet ekseninde; merkezi yönetim, yerel bürokrasi ve halk arasındaki ilişkileri anlamamızı sağlayan bir zemin yaratmıştır.

Antalya Halkevi Güzel Sanatlar Şubesi Faaliyetleri

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was based on the public since the years of the War of Independence, formed the new state he founded in behalf of public, for the interests of public and made the revolutions accordingly.However, after the closure of the Free Republican Party in 1930, the national tour and the Menemen incident led him to see that the revolutions were not adopted by the people and that the clash between the intellectuals and the people continued since the Ottoman Empire, so he had the community centers established on February 19,1932 to explain, make the revolutions adopt and eliminate the intellectal-public clash.The establishment of 9 branches within the community center was also agreed to grow citizens who combine national and universal values in the community centers. These branches were ranked according to the degree of importance given in the instruction and the Fine Arts Branch took its place as the second branch after, Language, Literature and History Branch.Atatürk had this branch established to develop art in these lands which didn’t develop for years, to create interest in art in the public and to protect those who are talented. The Antalya Community Center took its place in the second group among the opened community houses and was opened on June 24, 1932 with its 9 branches. In this article, the music and painting activities of the Antalya Community Center Fine Arts Branch were wanted to be revealed.In the preparation of the study, Republic Archive, Republican People's Party activity reports and brochures, Turkish Mediterranean Magazine issues published by Antalya Community Center, local newspapers and studies were used and the identified works were evaluated by using the document review model, one of the qualitative research methods.

Tracing Trajectories of Regime Support in Turkey

According to the legitimacy approach of political culture research the public’s approval of a particular regime and disapproval of its alternatives provide support for that regime. Both theoretical and empirical evidence suggest that this support is important for the legitimacy of the regime. This research attempts to map publics’ approval of democracy and disapproval of three regimes that are known to be alternatives of democracy by examining the three major political parties’, namely the Justice and Development Party (JDP), the Republican People’s Party (RPP) and the National Action Party (NAP), manifesto documents as well as their voter bases across the successive seventeen general elections in the modern Turkish political history. It employed quantitative research methods and the World Values Survey for individual level and Manifesto Project for party level data. Findings suggest that voters are more stable than their parties across time in terms of their pro-democratic stance. Also, that except for minor differences, support for democracy and each of three alternative of it occupy almost the identical places in the minds of the three party electorates. Moreover, in this picture, democracy is clearly viewed as an alternative to the three political regimes. In a causal relationship however, some important differences can be observed across parties when support for its alternatives are viewed as determinants of support for democracy. The last major finding suggests that these three political parties’ pro-democratic stances as identified in their manifesto documents do not represent their voters’ pro-democratic views.

Examining the Programs of Political Parties in terms of the Structure of the Turkish National Education System

Education systems are largely shaped by the policies of political parties. Political parties try to express their policies regarding the structure and functioning of the education system through party programs. As in all countries, policies regarding the education system have an important place in party programs in Turkey. The aim of this study is to examine the programs of political parties in Turkey in terms of the structure of the Turkish National Education System; the aim is to present their views on “Pre-School Education”, “Primary Education”, “General Secondary Education”, “Vocational Technical Secondary Education”, “Higher Education” and “Non-Formal Education-Adult Education-Continuous Education”. In this context, it is important to express the similarities in the objectives of the political parties regarding the structure of the Turkish Education System. In this study, the qualitative research method was used. The data of the research were collected through document analysis. The study population consisted of all the political parties in The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT). The sample of the study consists of five political parties selected according to the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. These political parties can be listed as follows according to the number of members: 1.Justice and Development Party (JDP), 2.Republican People's Party (RPP) 3.Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) 4.National Movement Party (NMP) 5.Good Party (GP). The data sources of the study are the party programs of political parties. The documents regarding the party programs were taken from the official websites of the parties. In the context of suitability for the purpose of the study, the documents were analyzed by the content analysis method. The findings of the research are given without adding the researcher's comment, according to the themes and codes created. According to the findings, there are quite a lot of statements about the structure of the Turkish National Education System in the programs of political parties. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that there are many similarities in the programs of the five parties, although there are many differences in the objectives of the parties regarding the structure of the Turkish Education System.

IDENTITY FUSION THEORY AND EXTREME PRO-GROUP BEHAVIORS: THE CASE OF DISSIDENT POLITICAL PARTY SUPPORTERS IN TURKEY

This research was conducted with dissident political parties' supporters that were represented in the parliament of Turkey via 2015 parliamentary election. Using the Identity Fusion Theory, the study aims to explore the relations of people with local in-group (supporters of the supported political party) and extended in-group (citizens of the Republic of Turkey); and test the endorsement of extreme behaviors as fighting or sacrificing own life to save in-group members or improve the current conditions of in-group. Accordingly, data was collected from Republican People's Party (CHP; N = 320), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP; N = 215), and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP; N = 150) supporters. There were significant group differences on study variables based on one's political party identity. Broadly, local in-group based socio-psychological processes were stronger in samples of HDP, MHP, and CHP supporters, respectively whereas extended in-group based socio-psychological processes were stronger in samples of MHP, CHP, and HDP supporters, respectively. Moreover, local in-group and extended in-group based socio-psychological processes were positively associated with each other in samples of CHP, and MHP supporters; but not associated in sample of HDP supporters. Identity fusion with local in-group indicated positive indirect (mediational) associations with endorsement of extreme behaviors for the sake of local in-group and extended in-group in three samples. The research findings complement the related literature, and present a relatively new theoretical approach to explain extreme pro-group behaviors. Keywords Identity fusion theory, extreme pro-group behavior, local in-group, extended in-group