Political parties and democracy in Turkey

Political Parties and Democracy in Turkey Edited by

Metin Heper and Jacob M.Landau

I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd

Publishers London· New York

Published in 1991 by 1. B. Tauris & Co Ltd 110 Gloucester Avenue London NW1 8JA 175 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010

In the United States of America and Canada distributed by St Martints Press 175 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010

Copyright © 1991 by Metin Heper and Jacob M. Landau All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, must not be reproduced in any fonn without permission in writing from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 'Political parties and democracy in Turkey 1. Turkey. Politics, history 1. Heper, Metin II. Landau, Jacob M. 1924-320.9561 ISBN

1-8504~300-3

Printed and bound in Great Britain by WBC Print Ltd, Bridgend

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Contents Preface· AbbreviatioIlsi• •.• ·. . ii.··.·.·.·.·.·. .· .·.·.iii··iiiiiii·.·.·.·.·ii\.····i.ii . · . ·. ·. ·. ·. . . . . . . ..

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3> Atatiirk and Political Parties

~Th~·:~~ri:n~ People's Party, 19~~:l945. '--...-""

'. Kemal H. Karpat' .... ". .... . '., ",.' ". , . . ' tfFl; The Progressive. R.epublican Party, 1924-1925 V'. Feroz AhIllad

6 The Free Party, 1930 .. Walter F.Weiker • 7 The RepublicaIl People's Party, 1945-:-1980 'Frank Tachau .... '.•. '._......:.":~-""-"', ~ TheAliDemocratic Partyti94~ ~~-,~.,,) Ya§ar Sanbay , --,~ .. __'_._"M ..'-, ... 9 The Justice Party, 1961-1980 , Avner Levi \10 Th~ Motherland Party, 1983-1989 '1 Ustiin Ergiider .' ·11 The Social Democratic Populist party; 1983--1989 Andrew Mango . ~12 The True Path Party, 1983--1989 Feride Acar 13 Conclusion Jacob M. Landau Select Bibliography Index

v

vii ix xii

1 10

24 42

1.19 134 152 170 188 202 208

217

Preface This volume is based on the proceedings of a conference held at Bilkent University, Ankara, on 10--12 November 1988. Political scientists, sociologists and historians from' Turkey, the United States, Great Britain and Israel lectured on the role of parties in Turkish politics. Other than those who read papers, several Turkish scholars served as commentators; they were Professors Nermin Abadan-Unat, Ali L. Karaosmanoglu,' Ersin Onulduran, Ergun Ozbudun and tIter Turan. The product of these papers and of some of the main points in the debates - considerably revised by their authors and the editors - are presented here. The chapters discuss the main parties in existence at the time of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal (whose name we use interchangeably with Atatiirk, as he was known by the people), in the multi-party period, following the Second World War and ending with the military intervention of 1980; and du'ring the 19805, up to ~e present day. While the Editors have sometimes been unable to' decide between differing interpretations - nor, indeed, did they consider this to be always advisable - they hope that the, volume does present a unified theme, which is the relation of the political parties to the viability of democracy in Turkey. ' Special thanks are due to Bilkent University, whose Board of Trustees financed the Conference, especially to Professor ihasan Dogramacl and Mr Giindogdu Akkor, respectively the Head and' Acting Head of the Board. The University Rector, Professor Midhat'