Politics of Republic of Turkey Türkiye'de siyaset | |
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| Polity type | Unitarypresidentialconstitutionalrepublic |
| Constitution | Constitution of Turkey |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | Grand National Assembly |
| Type | Unicameral |
| Meeting place | Parliament Building |
| Presiding officer | Numan Kurtulmuş,Speaker of the Grand National Assembly |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state andgovernment | |
| Title | President (Turkish: Cumhurbaşkanı) |
| Currently | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Appointer | Direct popular vote |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Presidential Cabinet |
| Current cabinet | Cabinet Erdoğan V |
| Leader | President |
| Deputy leader | Vice President |
| Appointer | President |
| Headquarters | Presidential Complex |
| Ministries | 17 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | Judicial system |
| Constitutional Court | |
| Chief judge | Kadir Özkaya |
| Council of State | |
| Chief judge | Zeki Yiğit |
| Court of Cassation | |
| Chief judge | Ömer Kerkez |
| Court of Jurisdictional Disputes | |
| Chief judge | Celal Mümtaz Akıncı |
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 Turkey portal |
Thepolitics of Turkey take place in the framework of aconstitutionalrepublic andpresidential system, with various levels and branches of power.
Turkey's political system is based on aseparation of powers.Executive power is exercised by theCouncil of Ministers, which is appointed and headed by the President, who serves as country'shead of state andhead of government.Legislative power is vested in theGrand National Assembly. Thejudiciary isindependent of the executive and the legislature. Its currentconstitution was adopted on 7 November 1982 after aconstitutional referendum.
Majorconstitutional revisions were passed by the National Assembly on 21 January 2017 and approved byreferendum on 16 April 2017. The reforms, among other measures, abolished the position ofPrime Minister and designated the President as both head of state and government, effectively transforming Turkey from aparliamentaryregime into a presidential one.
Suffrage isuniversal for citizens 18 years of age and older.
Turkey is apresidentialrepresentative democracy and aconstitutionalrepublic within apluriformmulti-party system, in which thepresident (thehead of state andhead of government),parliament, andjudiciary sharepowers reserved to the national government.
The government is divided into three branches, as per the specific terms articulated in part three of theTurkish Constitution:
Legislative power is invested in the 600-seatGrand National Assembly of Turkey (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi), representing 81 provinces. The members are elected for a five-year term by mitigatedproportional representation with anelection threshold of 7%. To be represented in Parliament, a party must win at least 7% of the national vote in a national parliamentary election. Independent candidates may run, and to be elected, they must only win enough to get one seat.
The freedom and independence of the judicial system is protected within the constitution. There is no organization, person, or institution which can interfere in the running of the courts, and the executive and legislative structures must obey the courts' decisions. The courts, which are independent in discharging their duties, must explain each ruling on the basis of the provisions of the Constitution, the laws, jurisprudence, and their personal convictions.
The Judicial system is highly structured. Turkish courts have no jury system; judges render decisions after establishing the facts in each case based on evidence presented by lawyers and prosecutors. For minor civil complaints and offenses, justices of the peace take the case. This court has a single judge. It has jurisdiction over misdemeanors and petty crimes, with penalties ranging from small fines to brief prison sentences. Three-judge courts of first instance have jurisdiction over major civil suits and serious crimes. Any conviction in a criminal case can be taken to a court of Appeals for judicial review.
The political system of Turkey is highly centralized. However, as a member state of theCouncil of Europe, Turkey is under an obligation to implement theEuropean Charter of Local Self-Government. In its 2011 report, theMonitoring Committee of the Council of Europe found fundamental deficits in implementation, in particular administrative tutelage and prohibition of the use of languages other than Turkish in the provision of public services.[4]
The Turkish Constitution is cumulatively built on the following principles:
Most mainstream political parties are alternatively built either on the following principles:
Other political ideas have also influenced Turkish politics and modern history. Of particular importance are:
These principles are the continuum around which various – and often rapidly changing – political parties and groups have campaigned (and sometimes fought). On a superficial level, the importance which state officials attach to these principles and their posts can be seen in their response to breaches ofprotocol in official ceremonies.[8]
After World War II, Turkey started operating under amulti-party system.
On thecenter right toright side of the Turkishpolitical spectrum, these parties have had large majorities:
Some other parties that have had similar politics but never had large majorities are:
Turkishright-wing parties are more likely to embrace principles of political ideologies such asconservatism,nationalism orIslamism.[9]
On thefar-right, there have been nationalist parties and Islamist parties:
On thecenter-left toleft side of the spectrum, parties likeRepublican People's Party (CHP),Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) andDemocratic Left Party (DSP) once enjoyed the largest electoral success.Left-wing parties are more likely to embrace principles ofsocial democracy,Kemalism orsecularism.[10]
On thefar-left side,socialist andcommunist parties tend not to get large votes, but parties like theWorkers' Party of Turkey (and theparty with the same name founded in 2017) have been able to get elected representatives in the parliament.
Elections in Turkey are held for six functions ofgovernment:presidential elections (national),parliamentary elections (national),municipality mayors (local),district mayors (local),provincial ormunicipal council members (local) andmuhtars (local).
Apart fromelections,referendums are also held occasionally. To put forward a referendum regardingconstitutional amendments, asupermajority (three fifths of the votes) in the parliament is required first. These kinds of referendums are binding.
In May 2023, President Erdogan won a new re-election and his AK Party with its allies held parliamentary majority in thegeneral election.[11]
Every Turkish citizen who has turned 18 has theright to vote and stand as a candidate at elections.Universal suffrage for both sexes has been applied throughout Turkey since 1934.[12]
According to theConstitution of the Ottoman Empire (1876), theage of candidacy was 30 and thevoting age was 25. In the newly established Republic of Turkey, the voting age was reduced to 18 due to the decreasing population, and the age of candidacy was still 30. The voting age was increased to 22 in 1934, decreased to 21 in 1987, and 18 in 1995.
The age of candidacy dropped from 30 to 25 through a constitutional amendment in 2006.[13] Following the2017 constitutional referendum, it was further lowered to 18.[14]
Political parties can usedonations, dues,real estate income and income from party activities to continue their activities. Since 1965, theTreasury also gives money to political parties. According to the law, parties that participated in the last parliamentary elections and that passed the general threshold are paid 0.04% of the general budget revenues each year. Apart from this, the parties that received more than 3 percent of the votes despite being below the threshold are also given public funding in proportion of support. This amount triples in election years.[15]
Political parties can't receive aid or donations in kind or in cash from foreign states, international organizations and entities not of Turkish nationality. The same rule applies for candidates inpresidential elections.Anonymous donations to political parties are also not allowed. It should be clearly stated in the receipt given by the party that the donation belong to the donor or the donor's authorized representative or attorney. Donations by political parties cannot be accepted without relying on such a document. Donations from domestic corporations with (partial) government ownership are also not allowed.[16]
According to article 74 of the Political Parties Law, the financial control of political parties is carried out by theConstitutional Court. The Constitutional Court supervises the compliance of the property acquisitions, income and expenses of political parties with the Law. Presidents of political parties are obliged to submit a certified copy of the final account and the final accounts of the local organizations, including the party headquarters and its affiliated districts, to the Constitutional Court and to the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court for information, until the end of June.[16]
SinceMustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the modern secular Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Turkish military has perceived itself as the guardian ofKemalism, the official state ideology. The TAF still maintains an important degree of influence over Turkish politics and the decision-making process regarding issues related to Turkish national security, albeit decreased in the past decades, via theNational Security Council.
The military has had a record of intervening in politics. Indeed, it assumed power for several periods in the latter half of the 20th century. It executedcoups d'étatin 1960,in 1971, andin 1980. In 1997, it maneuvered the removal of an Islamic-oriented prime minister,Necmettin Erbakan.[17] The military continued to effect politics throughout the first two decades of the 21st century, publishing an e-memorandum in 2007, and attempting a coup in 2016.
On 27 April 2007, in advance of 4 November 2007 presidential election, and in reaction to the politics ofAbdullah Gül, who has a past record of involvement inIslamist political movements and banned Islamist parties such as theWelfare Party, the army issued a statement of its interests. It said that the army is a party to "arguments" regardingsecularism; that Islamism ran counter to the secular nature of the Turkish Republic, and to the legacy ofMustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Army's statement ended with a clear warning that the Turkish Armed Forces stood ready to intervene if the secular nature of the Turkish Constitution is compromised, stating that "theTurkish Armed Forces maintain their sound determination to carry out their duties stemming from laws to protect the unchangeable characteristics of the Republic of Turkey. Their loyalty to this determination is absolute."[18]
The Turkish populace is not uniformly averse to coups; many welcome the ejection of governments they perceive as unconstitutional.[19][20][better source needed] Members of the military must also comply with the traditions of secularism, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom report in 2008, members who performed prayers or had wives who wore the headscarf, have been charged with "lack of discipline".[21]
Paradoxically, the military has both been an important force in Turkey's continuous Westernization but at the same time also represents an obstacle for Turkey's desire to join the EU. At the same time, the military enjoys a high degree of popular legitimacy, with continuous opinion polls suggesting that the military is the state institution that the Turkish people trust the most.[22][better source needed]
On 15 July 2016, factions within the Turkish Militaryattempted tooverthrow PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan, citing growing non-secularism and censorship as motivation for the attempted coup. The coup was blamed on the influence of the vast network led by U.S.-based Muslim clericFethullah Gülen.[23][24] In the aftermath of the failed coup,major purges have occurred, including that of military officials, police officers, judges, governors and civil servants.[25] There has also been significant media purge in the aftermath of the failed coup.[26] There has been allegations oftorture in connection with these purges.[27]
In 2012 the position ofombudsman was created, due to the ratification of the2010 referendum. The ombudsman is charged with solving, without the need to a recourse before the courts, the disagreements between citizens and the administrations and other entities charged with a mission of a public service proposing reforms to the Government and the administrations to further these goals; and actively participating in the international promotion ofhuman rights. The institution is independent of the government and answers to theParliament alone.[citation needed]The ombudsman is elected for a period of 4 years by the Parliament.[28]
Throughout theCold War,Turkey's most important ally has been theUnited States, which sharedTurkey's interest in containingSoviet expansion.[29][30] In support of theUnited States,Turkey contributed personnel to theUN forces in theKorean War (1950–1953), joinedNATO in 1952, recognizedIsrael in 1948 and has cooperated closely with it.[31]
Turkey's alliance withIsrael during theArab–Israeli conflict strained its relations with theArab world[32] andIran,[33] and subsequently led to overtSyrian support forPalestinian andArmenian terrorist operations against Turkish diplomats abroad until 1990.[34][35][36]
In all of these 'coups' the majority of the Turkish public accepted the military's actions because they felt they were necessary for the well being of the state and because the military did not seek to impose permanent military governance
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