Political parties in Turkey
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% nationwide vote threshold.
2007 elections
The last legislative elections took place on July 22nd, 2007, with the participation of 14 political parties (the previous elections took place in November 2002 and before that in April 1999). Out of 42,8million registered voters, 36million have voted during that day (84,25%). The AKP (Justice and Development Party) won the elections with 46,58% of the total votes (in 2002 they've won with 34.27% of the total votes). Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the Premiere of the new Government. The CHP got 20,88% and MHP got 14,27% of the votes, so they became the opposition parties. All other political parties couldn't pass the 10% threshold thus stayed outside of the Parliament (DP or ex-DYP 5,42%, GP 3,04%, SP 2,34%, and others less then 1%).
Surprisingly, the independent candidates got 5,24% of the votes and 26 of them managed to enter the Parliament. On the other hand, after the elections were over, some independent deputies or deputies hived away from the party they stood for, have resigned and joined different parties who were left out because of the 10% threshold. While officially there were only 3 political parties managed to get in during the 2007 elections (AKP, CHP, MHP), today also DTP (Democratic Society Party), DSP, ODP (Freedom and Support Party) and BBP (Grand Unity Party) are represented in the Parliament thanks to these newly added members.
With the elections of July 2007, for the first time in ten years after HADEP, pro-Kurdish candidates have won seats in the Turkish parliament. 24 independent candidates affiliated with the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) were elected, and once in they've gathered under the DTP banner. According to the Turkish law, 20 or more parliamentarians may form a political group inside the Parliament once elected.
Dramaticaly, a MHP deputy died in a car crash just days after the election. Therefore there is a vacant seat in the Parliament today.
In the elections of 2002, there were only 23 women. Now there are 50 of them. After the elections, the youngest member of the Parliament is 30 years old, and the oldest is 83.
Above you can see the outcome of elections in 2002 (left image) and in 2007 (right image)
A comparison of the seats that political parties held in the Turkish Parliament after the elections of 1999 - 2002 - 2007 is below:
AKP (Justice and Development Party) 59 - 360 - 341
CHP (Peoples Republican Party) 3 - 190 - 99 (there were 112, but 13 members passed to DSP)
MHP (National Movement Party) 124 - 0 - 70
DSP (Democratic Left Party) 58 - 0 - 13 (there were none, but 13 members left CHP and passed to DSP)
ANAP (Motherland Party) 71 - 0 - 0 (quit before elections)
DYP (True Path Party) 81 - 0 - 0 (entered as DP)
DTP (Democratic Society Party, a pro-Kurdish party) n/a - n/a - 20 (there were none, but 20 independents passed to this party)
BBP (Grand Unity Party, a far right party) n/a - n/a - 1 (thanks to a deputy who changed his party)
ODP (Freedom and Support Party) n/a - n/a - 1 (thanks to a deputy who changed his party)
YTP (New Turkey Party) 58 - 0 - n/a
SP (Felicity Party) 46 - 0 - n/a
Independents 10 - 15 - 4 (there were 26 but many passed to DTP)
TOTAL in Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM): 549 + 1 vacant seat, following the death only days after the election of a MHP deputy in a car crash.
The main political parties are :
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 between 1987-2006 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 was bound
to be, for the fifth time, Prime Minister. During the
elections in 2002 they got only 1.21% of the votes and couldn't go to the
parliament. During the elections of 2007 they've joined forces with CHP and entered the elections. After entering the Parliament within CHP, 13 members have left and joined their original party. Its chairman is Mr. Zeki Sezer.
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 elections of 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. In 2007 they joined their forces with DSP and got 20,88% of the votes, bringing in 112 deputies. After the elections, members from DSP have left the party and returned to their original party.
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 elections of 2002 they got only 8.34% of the votes and couldn't go to the
parliament. But in 2007 they've got 14,27% of the votes and managed to bring 70 deputies in the National Assembly.
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 won 34,3% of the total votes and 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. In the elections of 2007 they got 46,58% of the total votes and won the elections for the second time, bringing in 341 deputies.
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. Fazilet party was banned and closed in 2001, some of its members joined Saadet (Happiness) Party and some AKP.
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 elections in 2002, they got only 5.12% of the votes and couldn't
go to the parliament. In 2007 they came to a deal with DP (Democrat Party, ex-DYP) and quit from elections in order to direct center-right votes to DP. Today, they're not represented in the Parliament. Its chairman is Mr. Erkan Mumcu.
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 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, the party was represented in TBMM
automatically with 4 members. During the elections of 2007 they joined their forces with ANAP and changed its name as DP (Democrat Party) and its logo, but got only 5,42% of the total votes thus couldn't enter the Parliament. After this defeat, its leader Mr. Mehmet Agar has resigned. Today, Mr. Kamil Turan is the general secretary of the party.
GP (Genç Parti - Young Party): Founded in 2002 by a young businessman, Mr. Cem Uzan. It's a liberal republican party. During the 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. In the elections of 2007 they got 3,04% of the total votes thus couldn't go into the Parliament.
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. DEHAP was banned in 2005 and changed its name into DTP (Democratic Society Party). The DTP members entered in the 2007 elections as independent candidates from their provinces to bypass the 10% threshold barrier, and 20 of them succeded and elected in the Parliament almost after 10 years. Once inside, these independent deputies joined under the DTP banner and formed their group.
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