Political Overview

I'm going to try to summarize my understanding of the political situation here without going into a complete review of Turkey's history... which is quite difficult.


The party that has the majority in parliament right now is the AK party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi= Justice and Development Party). It is often termed an 'islamist' party in the Western media but it is a conservative party with an Islamic identity that is very moderate compared to what comes to mind when one thinks of the Islamist governments of the world. Ever since Turkey transitioned to multi-party democracy in the 1950's parties that have an Islamic identity have been formed, legitimately elected, but subsequently dissolved by the military, which vehemently supports the secular nationalist party CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi= Republican People's Party) whose power and dominance is threatened by the rise of these more conservative parties which have increasing support, especially in the countryside.


The CHP, which holds the symbolic power of being the party that Ataturk created, believes itself to be the guardian of the values that the Turkish Republic was imbued with at its time of creation. This party is closely intertwined with the military, with which it is ideologically aligned. As such the ideals of democracy are at times overlooked to protect the republic from what it sees are incursions upon the values which are of utmost importance to maintain. Hence the series of coups that have occurred in Turkey regularly, the last one taking place in 1997.


How much of a threat to the secularist order do these Islamist parties present? This is a matter of much controversy and the material evidence is irrelevant in the eyes of the secularists who see the issue as a slippery slope problem. There is the head scarf issue, which doesn't really seem like such a big deal, but has become symbolic and thus an intractable issue. For those who are unaware, wearing the head scarf is not required in Turkey. In fact, far from it. Women who cover their hair are prohibited from working in the public sector and studying in public schools. The head scarf issue has become a complex one and I won't try to unravel it here except to say that the so called 'Islamist' parties think that women should be able to wear whatever they want on their heads, and the secularist hard-liners believe that this will be the first step towards requiring all women to cover their heads.


Other than the head scarf issue, what else is there? Apparently in some areas conservative parties have tried to make adultery illegal and to declare areas in which alcohol is prohibited. This provoked an outcry and these measures never occurred. How serious these proposals were and how far they got I am not sure. I have not been able to find any other examples of material evidence to support the idea that the moderate Islamist parties in Turkey have a hidden agenda to Islamicise Turkish society.


As far as actual working policies, both sides seem pretty much in line with each other. The AK party has been steering the country towards accession to the EU and has encouraged economic growth and free trade. There doesn't seem, to my admittedly minimal understanding, to be any great disagreements between AKP and CHP over economic policy, international relations, etc.


I am also don't know much about the smaller parties, which I know exist because I see their election propaganda everywhere.


Then there are those who think the whole election is a sham... I guess these people would be akin to those in the United States on the far left who believe that the Democrats and Republicans are the same in their commitment to free trade and globalization, and that elections which provide a choice between these two parties are meaningless:





















''The election is not a solution. Join the fight for an independent Turkey tied with neither the USA nor the EU! The Justice and Liberty Front''

So yeah.... comments and corrections welcomed.