Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

CHANGES AND CONTINUITIES IN THE TURKISH PARTY SYSTEM

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 42; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00344890600736366

1749-4001

Ergun Özbudun,

Public Administration and Governance

Abstract The article deals with the changes and continuities in the Turkish party system especially in the light of the 2002 parliamentary elections. It is argued that the victorious AKP (Justice and Development Party) is not a simple continuation of previous Islamist parties, but a new political force with a broad appeal to the former centre-right, centre, nationalist, as well as a portion of Islamist voters. The article also discusses the meanings of the terms left and right in Turkish politics. Notes 1. Mehmet Ağar, an independent deputy elected from the province of Elazığ, later became the leader of the DYP (True Path Party) and was joined by three other members of Parliament. Thus the DYP is now a third party represented in Parliament. 2. The 'Fragmentation' index is computed by subtracting the sum of the squares of the percentages of party votes (or seats) (written in decimals) from 1. The index ranges between 0 and 1; 0 indicates no fragmentation, and 1 indicates extreme fragmentation. 3. 'Volatility' is the sum of the absolute value of all changes in the percentage of votes cast for each party since the previous election divided by two. In computing the volatility index, I treated the AKP as a new party for reasons to be explained below, and the SP (Felicity Party) as the successor to the RP (Welfare Party) and the FP (Virtue Party). 4. Taha Akyol, AKP'nin Arkasında Ne Var? (What is behind the AKP), Milliyet (daily), 19 Oct. 2002. See also Yılmaz Esmer, 3 Kasım Analizi (The Analysis of 3 November), Milliyet, 18 Nov. 2002. Esmer estimates that some one‐fourth of former DSP voters voted for the AKP in 2002. 5. Esmer, 3 Kasım Analizi, Milliyet, 17 Nov. 2002. 6. Esmer, 3 Kasım Analizi, Milliyet, 19 Nov. 2004. 7. Akyol, AKP'nin Arkasında Ne Var? Milliyet, 17 Oct. 2002. 8. Quotation is from Kalaycıoğlu Citation1994, 403. Şerif Mardin was the first Turkish scholar to emphasise the importance of the centre‐periphery cleavage in Turkish politics (Mardin Citation1972). See also Özbudun Citation1976, chapter 2; Heper Citation1980. 9. For example, Esmer's questionnaire does not include a single item on socio‐economic issues (Esmer Citation2002). 10. Esmer Citation2002, 100–1; Esmer, 3 Kasım Analizi, Milliyet, 18, 19 Nov. 2002; Akyol, AKP'nin Arkasında Ne Var? Milliyet, 18 Oct. 2002; TÜSES Citation2002, 47. 11. Almost three decades ago a leading Turkish economic historian described the basic cleavage in Turkish politics as one between the Westernist‐secularist camp and the Islamist‐Easternist camp. More controversially, he asserted that the former represented the right and the latter the left (Küçükömer Citationn.d., 82).