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BAHÇEŞEHİR (Spring 2008)
PART 1
TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY 1945-1950
From Single-Party Era to Multi-Party Era
DEMOCRAT PARTY ERA 1950 -1960
Transition to Democracy and Liberalism
THE SECOND REPUBLIC 1960-1961
27 May 1960 and the 1961 Constitution
PLANNING AND ECONOMIC GROWTH 1961-1973
Problems of Pluralism and Democracy
WORLD RECESSION AND CRISIS 1974-1980
Political and Economic Distress
THE THIRD REPUBLIC AND REFORMS 1980 - 1991
Political and Economic Restructuring
CREDITS AND DEBITS OF GLOBALIZATION
UPS AND DOWNS AND RECOVERY 1991 – 2008
Towards the 21st Century
Transition to Democracy
Wartime Developments
Social Stata (Classes)
1. Peasantry 1945 :% 83 – 40.000 villages
1955: % 71
Small property: the dominant type
2. Industrial Workers – Working Class
3. Middling Strata:
Landowners, Businessmen, Intellectuals
Statism created capital
and allowed accumulation in private hands
Classes / strata differentiated
Conflicts arouse
Difficulty in maintaining social policy and statism
General discontent
Peasantry – The largest social group
Living standard of peasantry deteriorated
Villages confronted with following problems:
1. Shortages of land
2.
Farming methods and techniques
3. Large estates
Distribution of national income unbalanced
Measures necessitated by war:
a) Industrialization in its initial stage
possible only
by exploiting internal markets
chiefly the rural ones.
b) Heavy taxes & unfavorable internal terms of trade
despite the removal of tithe (aşar)
Office of Soil Products 1938
1. To protect peasant through price supports
2. To accumulate farm supplies for army, schools,
& needy regions
Uneven distribution of burden when war broke out
1. Sharp increase in consumption of soil products
Army – from 120.000 to 1.500.000
No official mobilization
Ministry of Defence budget % 30 to % 50
Tax raises
Increase in money supply – Printing money
2.
Decrease in agricultural production
producers drafted into the army
Shortage of bread
The Office: authoritarian & unrealistic policy
Uneven distribution of the burden
Inflation
Consumer price index increase: from 100 to 459
Excluding black market prices
Four legislations affecting Single-Party Era
1. National Defence Law - January 1940
(Milli Korunma Kanunu)
2. Tax on capital (Varlık Vergisi) 1942
3. Agricultural Products Law
(Toprak Mahsulleri Vergisi) 1942
4. Land Reform Law
(Çiftçiyi Topraklandırma Kanunu) 1945
The Memorandum of the Four (Dörtlü Takrir)
Celal Bayar,
Adnan Menderes,
Refik Koraltan
Fuat Köprülü
supported by Vatan and Tan [newspapers]
a) Turkish constitution be implemented in full
b) Democracy established
Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti) January 1946
National Development Party
(Milli Kalkınma Partisi)
by Nuri Demirağ - industrialist
The liberalization of the economy
The development of free enterprise
Sixth Congress of RPP - 1943
RPP extraordinary congress – May 1946
1. Liberalizing measures
2. Direct elections
3. The position of permanent chairman of the party abolished
4. The title of “National leader” (Milli Şef) abolished
After the congress
1. A liberal press law
2. Autonomy for the university
National elections brought forward
from July 1947 to July 1946
Catching the Democrats before they fully organize
Elections
DP won 62 of the 465 seats
1. Massive vote-rigging
2. No guarantee of secrecy during the actual voting
3. No impartial supervision of the elections
As soon as the results were declared
actual ballots were destroyed
making any check impossible
Turkey desperate for foreign financial assistance
To facilitate this applied for membership of the IMF
1946 - A new economic five-year plan similar to pre-war plans
Emphasis on autarky and state control
1947 - A new Development Plan
echoed the wishes of the Istanbul businessmen and of the DP
1. Free enterprise
2. Development of agriculture and agriculturally based industry
3. Road instead of railways
4. Development of energy sector (oil)
Hardly any difference between the economic policies of the DP and
of the RPP
Exception: the DP wanted to sell off the state industries
July 1947 Twelfth of July Declaration by İnönü
a) Legitimized the existence of the opposition
b) Called upon the state apparatus to be impartial
Defeat of hard-liners in the RPP
Hasan Saka replaced Recep Peker
1949 Şemsettin Günaltay, - a compromise figure
1947 RPP Congress
RPP moved even closer to the DP program
1. Advocated free enterprise
2. Decided to retract /withdraw art. 17 of Land Reform
3. Allowed religious education in the schools
4. Reformed the Village Institutes
Istanbul Economic Congress - 1948
emphatic in its support for liberal economic policies
1945-1950 years of growth (11 % growth in GDP per year)
Economic growth in agricultural sector
From 1947 onwards,
trade surplus changed into a persistent trade deficit due
to fast-rising imports of machinery.
Turkey
moving in the direction of a more effective
parliamentary democracy
Transition to
modern community of mobile, participant citizens
Population increased
13,5 million in 1927
21 million in 1950
The proportion living in cities rose significantly
An increase in urbanization
Literacy increased
A literate, urban population
New interests and habits
Anxious to be kept informed – Public opinion
The number and circulation of newspapers rose steadily
The number of wireless sets increased
The modernization of communication
THE END OF STATISM
Statism created capital
&
allowed its accumulation in private hands
Classes became differentiated - Conflicts were bound to arise
Difficulty in maintaining the social order
General discontent
The living standard of the peasantry worsened
Turkey was desperate for foreign financial assistance
Applied for membership of the IMF 1947
IMF established in 1944
To qualify for membership:
7 September 1947 Decisions
a) A devaluation of Turkish lira by % 120
b) A number of liberalizing measures
aimed at the integration of Turkey into the world economy
Truman doctrine: 1947
Civil War in Greece
American commitment
Military and financial support for Greece & Turkey
to the defence of anti-communist regimes
Marshall Plan 1947 - 1948
Financial support to European countries
Main aim:
a) To help them to rebuild their economies
Complementary aims:
b) To sustain lucrative export market for US industry
c) To eliminate poverty as a breeding ground for communism
RECOVERY
1945-1950 - years of growth
(11 % growth in GDP per year)
From very low level of economic activity of WWII
Large gold & foreign exchange stocks
accumulated during WWII
Purchase of chrome ore by belligerents
Nonavailability of imports
Investment Program
A good position to step up investment program
Machines, contruction materials, etc. to be imported
A disguised form of investment in agriculture
Money Supply
An increase in money supply
Subsidizing basic crops to a level above world prices
(wheat price about double the going world price)
Tax Burden
Tax burden of rural populace decreased
compared to urban population
To stir economic incentive
Large share of the national income channeled
into the rural areas
Assistance
Military and economic assistance from the US
- International position strengthened
-Domestic investment load lightened
Autarky came to an end – Incorporation speeded up
Economic growth in agricultural sector
From 1947
Trade surplus changed into a trade deficit
due to fast-rising imports of machinery
Social policies
The ban on organizations with a class base lifted (1946)
Trade unions established – 1946 - linked to socialist parties
Martial law – close them down
International Labor Organization
Turkey joined the ILO
1947 Law on Trade Unions
a) gave to the workers the right of organization in trade unions
b) forbade political activity & strikes
DP promised to grant workers the right to strike (grev hakkı)
Restictive policies of the governments
Until 1950 – labor unions acting as adjuncts of the RPP
After 1950 – an independent labor movement
Special courts to handle labor cases (1950)
Weak Trade Unions
because:
a) Small number of industrial workers
b) Low level of education
c) Extreme poverty of working class – insufficient union dues (aidat)
Private Banking Institutions
Yapı Kredi 1944
Garanti 1946
Akbank 1948
The Industrial Development Bank of Turkey
(Sanayi Kalkınma Bankası) 1950
Purpose:
Recruiting capital for private business
at more reasonable terms
Liberalism
in the air before the Democrats came to power
A powerful industrial bureaucracy
developed under RPP eagis – State industries
Difficult to unseat KİTs.
By 1950:
Literacy % 34.5
Population : 20.9
Labor force: 10.6 million
Persons employed in industry and crafts: % 8.7 of the labour force
Per capita real income: index 107
(1938 the base year_(100)) - 1929 : 87
Bank deposits: from 197 million TL (1937)
to 1.031 million TL (1950)
DP = A splinter group from RPP
Split off from the DP
Nation Party (Millet Partisi) – Marshal Fevzi Çakmak
A more uncompromising opposition to the RPP
Religiously motivated
Election law - Bone of contention – February 1950
1. Free and fair elections
2.Supervision of the elections by the judiciary
The elections of 14 May 1950
– free and fair
– without major incident
– very high turnout ( % 80) (of the electorate casting its vote)
Electoral system
Majoritarian (Çoğunluk sistemi)
versus Proportional Representation (Nisbî temsil)
DP received 408 seats (% 53.5)
against the RPP’s 69 (39.8)
Nation Party (Millet Partisi) won 1 seat
RPP votes from east of Ankara:
notables, tribal chiefs & large landowners controlled the vote
DP - First political organization with a mass following
Catch-all Party
Peaceful handover of power (1950)
Peaceful transition
from autoritarianism to multi-party democracy (1946)
Unique experience in the developing world
A democratic heritage
Experiments with parliamentary election ( since 1876)
Multy party democracy (1908-1913) (1924) (1930)
1950 – 1960 Democrat Party Era
1. Liberal economic policies
2. Authoritarian methods to curb the opposition
3. Relaxation of secularist policies
4. Strengthening ties with the West
1951 and 1953 RPP congresses
1. Six arrows redefined
2. More emphasis on social policies
In 1953
Democrat Party
a) dominated National Assembly
b) requisitioned all the RPP’s material assets
c) closed People’s Houses (Halkevleri) & People’s Rooms (Halk
odaları)
Insecurity within DP
1953 : Amendments
Government control of the press and the universities
1954 (before the elections)
The press law tightened
1954 Elections
Increased DP majority: 503 seats for the DP
RPP left with 31 seats
A tremendous success for Menderes
Massice support of peasantry
Policies vindicated by the economic boom
Nation Party (Millet Partisi)
banned in 1953
reconstituted as the Republican Nation Party
(Cumhuriyetçi Millet Partisi)
won 5 seats in 1954
Economic Development
DP trusted implicitly in the working of the market
Foreign Capital
The Law to encourage foreign investment 1951
Foreign investment remained extremely limited
% 1 of total private investment
No more than 30 firms invested
Emerging Turkish Bourgeoisie
expected to start investing the profits accumulated in the 1940’s
Family businesses
hesitated to invest on the scale desired by DP
Privatization
of large state enterprises - a dead letter
Contributions
from private sector & foreigners disappointing
% 40 to 50 of investment came from the State
Investments concentrated:
1. Road network
2. Building industry (İnşaat Sektörü)
3. Agro-industries
New roads
Switch to road transport
a changeover from public to privately owned transport
to lower transport costs
Tied the country together – National market
Opened up access to the villages
More effective marketing and distribution
End of Railways
The building of railways came to an almost complete halt
Highways
1600 km of hard-surfaced roads in 1950
5400 km of hard-surfaced two-lane highways
built between 1950-1960
with American technical and financial assistance
Turkey obtained the services of the U.S. Public Roads
Administration
Fast-rising number of cars, buses and trucks
in private hands
Effectiveness of the investments
lessened in three ways:
1. Investments uncoordinated
2. Quick and tangible results expected
3. Investment decisions politically inspired
1. Investments uncoordinated
Menderes - allergic to economic planning
Associated it with the evils of statism
Denounced planning as synonymous with communism
2. DP wanted quick and tangible results
(to reach the level of Europe within 50 years )
DP confused development with growth
a) Use of credit facilities and investments short-sighted
b) Aimed at a high level of growth
rather than
a long-term improvements in the productive capacity
3. Investment decisions politically inspired
Factories put up in:
a) economically unpromising locations
b) the wrong sectors
Income distribution & social policies
a) Agricultural incomes grew faster
than non-agricultural incomes
Larger farmers profited most
b) Profits grew faster than wages & salaries in the towns
Traders and industrialists were relatively better off
Worsening inflation from 1955
hit wage- and salary- earners
Still, by 1960,
their real incomes had grown considerably
compared
with the immediate post-war years
Demographic Transformation – Revolution
1. Respectable increase in total population
2. Unbanization:
Mass migration from countryside to towns
Major cities growing by % 10 a year
Labor migration - permanent rather than seasonal
3. Emigration to European countries (Germany etc.)
Limited Capacity
of new industries
to accommodate fast-growing but unskilled workforce
Small proportion found permanent jobs in industry
Most of the migrants ended up
as casual labourers or as street vendors (sokak satıcısı)
Disguised Unemployment (Gizli işsizlik)
Lack of infrastructure
Cities - not equipped to receive large numbers of new inhabitants
Satellite towns (shanty-towns)
sprang up without infrastructure
No water, electricity, roads, or sewage system
(Gecekondu)
Settlers built their houses
on unused land on the outskirts of town
Labour Conditions
Trade Unions Law of 1947
Most unions were linked to the RPP
through “Workers Bureau” (İş Bürosu)
Unions forced on the workers by the RPP
DP powerful weapon: The promise to grant
the right to strike
After the elections this promise forgotten
The trade Unions Confederation (Turk İş) 1952
Founded with moral and material assistance
from the International Conference of Free Trade Unions
The position of the unions remained week
Extremely low living standards of the members
Contributions (Aidat)
insufficient for the running of the organizations
Economic Problems
Turkey suffered a trade deficit from 1947 onwards
even during the boom years of 1950-53
Turkey had a wheat surplus
became a major wheat exporter
The boom was over by 1954
Weather conditions worsened
Turkey imported wheat once again
1956 -59 marked by spiralling inflation
Prices rising at % 18 per annum
Growth rate levelled out to a mediocre % 4
Barely enough to keep up with the high birth rate
No sign of self-sustaining development
Agricultural growth
Extensive farming dominant
achieved by a combination of:
1. Extension of the sown area
2. Exceptionally good weather
Intensive farming marginal
a) Improved agricultural techniques
b) Irrigation
c) Use of fertilizers
Economic growth
fell from around % 13 to % 4
Trade deficit
in 1955 was 8 times that of 1950
Government kept up
the rate of imports and investment
Turkey’s strategic position in the Cold War
to get
financial aid and easily borrowing terms
In 1960
total external debt stood at 1.5 billion $ = ¼ of the GNP
The weakness of the economy
Solution for financial problems :
effective taxation
taxing the new wealth in the countryside
Finances
Rich (large) landowners & substantial farmers
earned more than a % 20 of the GDP
paid only 2 % of the total tax revenue
Political considerations = Populism
prevented DP from levying taxes in rural areas
Inflation
Instead of taxation
borrowed from Central Bank = printing money
Inflation went up
from 3 % in 1950 to 20 % in 1958
hitting
a) wage-earners
b) salary- earners & pensioners
c) consumers in towns
Measures (from September 1953)
Import and foreign exchange controls
Ending
1. Five-year period of gradual opening up of the economy
2. Rapid integration into the world economy
From 1954
International financial institutions began to caution DP
Classical “IMF package” prescribed:
1. Devaluation of TL
2. End to artificial prices and to subsidies
3. End to import and export restrictions
DP resisted these pressures
Stuck to official fixed exchange rate of TL
Result:
a) Economy deteriorated
b) Inflation grew
Gap between the official rate & the real value of TL widened
Black-market in foreign currency by 1958
Instead of recognizing the economic realities
DP revived National Defense Law
Milli Korunma Kanunu (1940)
to enforce price controls
Result:
Black market = Goods disappeared from shelves
Finally
DP agreed to the demands of the IMF (August 1958)
1. Devaluated TL
2. Rescheduled debts
3. Rised prices of KİT products
In exchange: Loan package
from USA, European countries, IMF
The debit side of DP’s Economic Policy
Unsound financial and fiscal structure
Creating
1. Huge deficits in balance of payment = Debts
2. Inflation at home = Black market
The credit side
mobility and dynamism
1. Modernized agriculture
Passage from extensive farming to intensive farming
2. Increased the industrial base
Large industrial firms have their roots in the 1950s
3. Built new road network opening up the country
Villages came into contact with the outside world
From 1954
Economic downturn eroded support for the DP
Reasons:
a) Deterioration in standards of living
Limits put on the imports of consumer goods
b) Rise in the expectations of material improvement
1957 Elections:
Gradual loss of support for DP in the countryside
Still kept the support of the majority
Serious problem:
Crumbling / decaying support of
1) intellectuals
2) bureaucracy
3) armed forces
Results:
a) Groving economic difficulties = inflation
hitting salaried people, civil servants, pensioners
b) Groving authoritarianism
hitting intellectuals & universities
Measures against bureaucracy
Suspected of loyalty to İnönü and RPP
Political control over the executive and judiciary
Restricted academic freedom
Incidents in the universities
Increased hold over the bureaucracy
Civil servant: over 25 years of service
could be suspended and sent into retirement
Applied also to judges & university professors
Tension in foreign policy:
Riots of September – The future of Cyprus
6-7 Eylül Olayları – Events of September 6-7
Impasses in negotiations - Nationalist fervour
fanned by the press
Expected:
A limited spontaneous demonstration by students
to demonstrate public feeling
Result:
Demonstrations got out of hand
Developed into a pogrom (plunder)
against orthodox citizens
Attack on wealth
by the inhabitants of the gecekondus
Martial law declared (İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir)
Interior minister resigned
Opposition
to authoritarian policies within DP (1955)
vis-a-vis the press, the universities & the judiciary
Bone of contention within DP
Right to Prove (Ispat Hakkı)
journalists taken to courts
should have the right to prove the truth
of what they have written
Proposal rejected by DP parliamentry group
Vote of confidence - Dissent / dissagreement within the DP
Liberal wing broke away
Freedom Party (Hürriyet Partisi) - December 1955
under the leadership of Fevzi Lutfi Karaosmanoğlu
Became the biggest opposition party
supported by big business
Wanted:
A more sophisticated economic policy – planning
1956
Authoritarianism continued
National Defence Law revived to control prices and supplies
Press Law changed
to strengthen further government control of the media
Political meetings prohibited except during election campaigns
Elections due in 1958
pulled back (27 October 1957)
a) Prices of agricultural products raised
b) Ten-month moratorium on farmer’s debts
Cooperation between opposition parties
Joint declaration of principles (4 September)
Law (11 September) banned
the use of combined lists in elections
1957 Elections – A major setback for DP
DP = the largest party, but lost the absolute majority
DP % 47.3 & 424 seats
RPP % 40.6 & 178 seats (in 1954 31 seats)
FP (extremely disappointing) % 3.8 & 4 seats
Republican Nation Party (ultra-conservative) % 7 & 4 seats
After the elections
RNP merged with Peasants Party (Köylü Partisi)
to form
The Republican Peasants National Party
(Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi)
December 1958
FP – no grassroots organization - merged with RPP
Infusion of new ideas to reorientate the RPP
a) social justice
b) democratic safeguards
Secularism
DP confronted with an hostile opposition
A worsening economic crisis
Crubling support among city-dwellers & intellectuals
DP (1957) appealed to religious sentiments
a) Described the Republicans as communists and unbelievers
b) Boasted about the number of mosques and religious schools
opened under DP
DP charged / accused of
a) using religion for political purposes
b) reneging on the secularist principles of the state
DP used religion for political purposes
However
DP did not undermine the secular character of the republic
Kemalism (Single-Party Era)
A modernization strategy based on a positivist world vision
Religion seen as a hindrance to progress in modernization
Kemalist secularism
subjugation and integration of religion
into the state bureaucracy
rather then
separation of church and state
In the 30s and 40s – extremely repressive
After 1946 (Multi-Party Era)
Parties started to court the Muslim vote
RPP : (After 1947 congress)
more tolerant of religion
a) Reintroduced elective religious education in schools
& training establishments for preachers
b) Faculty of Divinity in Ankara University
c) Tombs and shrines (türbe) reopened (1949)
But: tried to guard against religious reaction in politics
Article 163 (Penal code) :
Prohobited
propoganda attacking the secular character of the state
DP (Before 1950)
Great care to emphasize secularism
Islamic currents (Sebilürreşat etc.) attacked the DP
Formation of more radical opposition parties:
Nation Party
Dissolved in 1953
for alleged complicity in reactionary religious plot
DP (After 1950)
Relaxation of secularist policies
a) Restrictions relaxed on expressions of religious feeling
b) Concessions to the feelings of the Muslim population
c) Koran reading on the wireless
& reversion to Arabic for the prayer call
d) Religious education expended
e) Parents had to opt out instead of having to opt in
f) The number of preacher schools enlarged
g) Increase in the building of mosques
h) The sale of religious literature allowed again
i) accepted the existence of autonomous religious organizations
(legitimized brotherhoods)
But still:
The DP’s understanding of the secularism
- not significantly different from that of the RPP
- did not end the integration of the religious establishment
into the bureaucracy
-Preacher remained civil servant
-The administration of religious endowments in state hands
Emergence of anti-secularism
1950-51 Dervish sheikhs came out into the open
with large following
Ticani dervish order started to smash busts of Atatürk
Persecuted vigorously by the government
Their leader, Kemal Pilavoğlu sent to jail
Law against defaming Atatürk’s memory passed in 1951
However
Nurcu movement supported DP in the elections
DP tacitly admitted:
Religion was not necessarily incompatible with development
Within the army
seen as betrayal to the Kemalist traditions
Result:
Islam made much prominent in everyday life in the cities
visible in urban milieux through migration
But seen a a resurgence of Islam by intellectuals
Religious Dilemma
Obscurantism or traditional culture of the mass of population ?
Interpreted as:
The former subject class reasserting its right to express itself
Economic Convergence
Economic policies of RPP and DP
differed in emphasis
Not in direction
SEE not turned over to private capital
State continued to invest heavily
Illiberal spirit
After 1954
DP sought to buttress their strong position
by restricting political liberties
1954-59
Prosecutions of
journalists,
editors &
newpaper owners
Ammendments to the press & libel (iftira / hareket) laws – 1956
Severe penalties for criticizing persons in official positions
Control of the allocation of newsprint – 1958
Amendments to Civil Service Law 1954
a) judges and university teachers after 24 years service or at
age 60 sent to retirment (emeklilik)
b) Dismissal of civil servants after a period of suspension
(görevden el çektirme)
Activites of political parties curtailed
Amendment to the electoral law to prevent electoral coalitions
Public meetings & demonstrations banned except
in the 45 day campaign period preceding elections
Rise in the political temperature
Opposition accused of intirfering with
a) the army
b) arming its own followers
Fatherland Front (Vatan Cephesi) 1958
To broaden the DP’s base
To mobilize the mass of population
1960 Investegatory Commission
to investigate activities of the opposition
(Tahkikat Komisyonu)
Commission set up with powers
a) To suppress newspapers
b) Subpoena (summon to appear before the Commission)
persons and documents
c) To imprison for up to 3 years those who impeded its
investigations
Commision denounced as unconstitutional by law professor
Accused of engaging in politics
Disciplinary action taken against them
Student demonstrations and riots
The effect of the restrictions
Political strife driven out into the streets
The events of 28 & 29 April 1960
Use of the troops to suppress demonstrations
One student killed
Silent demonstration by cadets of the War Academy (Harbiye)
21 May 1960
Dubious legitimacy of the measures
Encouraged illegitimate means of action
Opposition strong in large towns
Particularly amongst students
Educated sections of society
a) Schools & Universities
b) Civil service
c) Military officer class
Former elite displaced from the center of the stage
Fall in purchasing power of the salaries
Displaced as the elite in society
New centers of wealth and influence
Necessity to call in the army to suppress demonstrations
Army – sympathy with İnönü
Why did DP cling so obstinately to power ?
1 . The character of the DP leadership
2. Restriction on personal basis
rather than rational basis
3. Excessive confidence
in their popularity & their own legitimacy
1 . The character of the DP leadership.
Active participation in the authoritarian RPP
not democratic by training
2. Restriction on personal basis
rather than rational basis
İnönü complex
frustrated in the RPP
unable to unseat İnönü
3. Excessive confidence in their popularity
&
their own legitimacy
Support of the bulk of the electorate
Little interference with traditional and religious customs
Underestimated the power of the Opposition
The Second Turkish Republic 1960-1980
The military takeover of 27 May 1960 (27 Mayıs Devrimi)
a)
“to prevent fratricide” (kardeş katli)
b) “to extricate the parties from the irreconcilable situation into
which they had fallen”
The conspirators:
a number of radical colonels, majors and captains
Greeted with explosions of public joy
among student an the intelligentsia
The rest of the country showed no such reaction
General Cemal Gürsel: as a figurehead,
former commander in-chief of the land forces
National Unity Committee (NUC)
(Millî Birlik Komitesi)
headed by Cemal Gürsel – 38 officers Alpaslan Turkeş – the most influential member
Declaration of professors justifying the intervention:
DP acted unconstitutionally
The investigatory commission – Tahkikat Komisyonu
became illegal
Young Turks
Tradition of military leadership of modernizatation
ceased to be under the Single-Party regime
Fevzi Çakmak = Millet Partisi
Restructuring of Army in the 50s.
Extensive rearming and retraining of the military (NATO)
The modern army = the most progressive element
The process of modernization created expectations
Under the guise of Atatürkism or Kemalism
Underlying factor encouraging the military to intervene:
A combination of frustration & renewed self-confidence
Most prestigious elements in society in the 1950’s
Free professions in law, medicine, engineering and the like
Not military nor civil servants
Social background
&
social and economic views of the instigators of the coup
NUC – discontented with DP’s economic and social policies
a) A more balanced economic growth
b) A more equitable distribution of wealth
c) Land reform
for DP social justice was not a main consideration
Military Rule May 1960 – October 1961
NUC decision (3 August)
to retire 235 out of 260 generals
&
some 5000 colonels and majors
Democrat Party suspended on 31 August
&
dissolved on 29 September 1960
A speedily return to constitutional rule
Onar Commission – Prof. Sıddık Sami Onar
A provisional constitution – 12 June 1960
giving legal basis both to the coup and to NUC
The cabinet of technocrats as an executive organ
To finalize the text of the constitution
The Constituent Assembly
(Kurucu Meclis)
convened in January 1961
Consisted of two chambers
Bicameral parliament
1. An upper house in the legislature:
the NUC (Milli Birlik Komitesi)
2. A lower house: 272 (Kurucu Meclis)
representatives of
a) the remaining political parties
b) the professional (occupational) groups
c) the provinces
The New Constitution: (1961)
The Republic is described as
nationalist, democratic, secular and social
Social and democratic are not in the 1924
Populist and revolutionary (1924) are omitted
Legislative and executive power are no longer concentrated in
the GNA
From an assembly, or convention, system to a parliamentary one
The New Constitution: (1961)
to prevent a power monopoly
from using its majority to become despotic
by counterbalancing
the National Assembly (Millet Meclisi)
with other institutions
1961 Constitution derived from 3 main sources:
a) The historical legacy of the Constitutions of 1876 & 1924
b) The experience of contemporary democratic states
c) Turkey’s present social needs
a) Historical legacy
1876 Constitution
Created an elected parliament
Gave place to individual rights (limited)
Gave recognition to the idea of limitation of the Sultan’s powers
in the name of the people
Participation of the ‘people’ in a system dominated by the Sultan
The emergent principle of division of powers
To replace the concentration of all legislative, executive and
judicial powers in the hands of the Sultan
1924 Constitution
A victory for the principle of pupular sovereignty
[milli hakimiyet = halk egemenliği ]
at the expence of the separation of powers
Sovereignty firmly invested in the nation
Nation’s soveregn rights exercised on its behalf by the GNA
Only the nation and its representative GNA possessed authority
GNA the source of executive as well as legislative power
1961 Constitution
Provided greater degree for the separation of powers
An impartial Presidency
A parliamentary form of government
in which a balance between government and parliament
1876 & 1924 “government with parliament”
1961 parliamentary government
b) Contemporary experience
Illuminated by ideas about representative democratic
government
Insistance on patriotism = national (rather than nationalism), on
laicism, on the legitimacy of power only through elections
Subjecting political power to the inspection of public opinion &
political institutions.
c) Present needs
i)
Strong democratic government
to carry through
economic and social development in a planned way
ii) Inclusion of social rights
Constitution is a foundation stone for a democratic welfare
state (refah devleti)
1. 2 Chambers: National Assembly and Senate
The National Assembly 450 members
The supremacy of the lower house - the last voice
More representative on account of its system of election
by proportional representation
Term of office is 4 years
Deputies need only be 30 years of age and be literate
A second chamber : Senate (Senato)
150 elected members
Natural members
life membership for member of the NUC
15 members appointed by the President
former presidents
The term of office of all elected and appointed senators is 6 years
1/3 of elected and appointed members of the Senate retire every
2 years
Senators have to be at least 40 years of age & to have had higher
education
2. An independent Constitutional Court
(Anayasa Mahkemesi)
to review the constitutionality of the laws of the GNA
High Council to try the President, the PM, & other ministers
&
highest legal personages for offences arising out of their
duties
Suits for annulment of laws and standing orders
Suits for the closing down of political parties
3. Full autonomy
for the judiciary, the universities and the mass media
4. The system of proportional representation:
to prevent the division of the country into two hostile camps
to lessen the chance of one party
to make single-party government unlikely
holding an overwhelming majority
5. A full bill of civil liberties To strengthen the basic rights
Social and economic rights and obligations
the right to bargain collectively and to strike
the right to social security and medical care
6. A constitutional role for the military:
the National Security Council (NSC) (Milli Güvenlik Kurulu)
National Security Council March 1962
advised the government on internal and external security
Members:
The chief of the general staff [genel kurmay başkanı
The service chiefs [kuvvet komutanları]
&
The ministers concerned [ilgili bakanlar]
A powerful watchdog,
sometimes replacing the cabinet
as the center of real power and decision-making
The President of the Republic
A tendency to make the President an arbiter
in the political struggle
More distant from the GNA than formerly
The requirement of political neutrality
Yet, the break from Parliament is not complete
President chosen by the GNA
for seven 7 years (longer term of office)
by a 2/3 majority of the GNA in plenary session [NA +
Senate]
from among members of the GNA who are at least 40 years
old + higher education
should not be responsible to GNA
The president is not eligible for re-election
The referendum
on the new constitution (9 July 1961)
A severe setback for the forces of 27 May
Accepted with 61.7 against 38.3 per cent of the votes cast
The ban on political activity lifted (13 January 1961)
RPP & RPNP reactivated
New Parties
1) The Justice Party [Adalet Partisi]
headed by Ragıp Gümüşpala; retired general
Primary goal
full rehabilitation of the retired officers and arrested democrats
2) The Workers [Labor] Party of Turkey [Türkiye İşçi Partisi]
headed by Mehmet Ali Aybar, publicist, lawyer, former
University academics
3 ) The New Turkey Party [Yeni Türkiye Partisi]
headed by Ekrem Alican
The parliamentary elections (15 October 1961)
RPP gained % 36.7 : (171 seats) disappointed
JP polled % 34.7 (158 seats)
The New Turkey Party got % 13.9:
A continuation of the Freedom Party
founded by dissident Democrats in 1955
The conservative RPNP polled % 13.4
Taken together,
the parties which were considered heirs to DP
were still the strongest in the country
The new constitution more liberal than the old one:
It tolerated a wider spectrum of political activity than before,
both to the left and to the right
The trial of the old regime: Yassıada Mahkemeleri
31 sentenced to life imprisonment &
418 to lesser terms,
while 15 sentenced to death (11 death sentence commuted)
müebbed hapis
Adnan Menderes, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan
hanged
Celal Bayar’s death sentence
commuted
because of his advanced age
A Period of Transition – the Period of Coalitions
1961-1965
Heavy pressure on the two party
to collaborate in a coalition
to be led by İsmet İnönü
The First İnönü Coalition
A marriage of convenience, not love
Failure:
a) the amnesty for the former DP politicians
b) the project for a planned economy
The JP rejected as insufficient
a proposal to reduce the sentences of the Democrats
The Second İnönü Coalition
İnönü formed a new cabinet
A coalition with the two smaller parties
Many frictions
The worst: the proposal for a land tax
Cemal Gürsel asked the JP leader, Ragıp Gümüşpala
to form a government.
He failed in his attempt
The Third İnönü Coalition
A minority coalition of RPP and independents
JP brought it down:
budget is not approved
A Caretaker Cabinet
headed by Suat Hayri Ürgüplü (a former diplomat)
Elections in October 1965
JP won a landslide victory
gaining an absolute majority of the votes cast ( % 52.9)
RPP was down to % 28.7.
The other parties gained les than % 7
Workers’ Party of Turkey (WPT) in the parliament:
15 deputies
National remainder system NRS
Milli Bakiye Sistemi
% of votes = % of seats in parliament
Permitted the Workers’ Party 15 seats in the assemby
Demirel, prime minister.
He dominated Turkish politics for the next five years
Goods years for Turkey
High economic growth - % 6.9 growth rate &
Continual increases in real incomes
Demirel’s most important achievement
Reconciliation of the army & the rule by civilians
The price paid:
The armed forces were granted almost complete autonomy
JP was a coalition of
1. industrialists
2. small traders and artisans
3.
peasants and large landowners
4.
religious reactionaries
5. Western-orientated liberals
It had very little ideological coherence
Demirel’s frequent recourse to two tactics
To preserve the unity of the party and his own position
1. Emphasis on the Islamic character of the party
He stood for traditional values
Flirted with leaders of Nurcu movement
2. Constant anti-communist propaganda campaign
&
harassment of leftist movements
He became unpopular among intellectuals
But his support held up well in the countryside
The elections of 1969
JP suffered slight losses ( %46.5)
RPP polled only % 27.4
JP formed a new cabinet
Slightly more centrist than the old one
Problems within JP – Opposition to Demirel.
He lost the support of the most conservative wing
a) Anatolian landowners
&
b) small traders and artisans
over his proposals for new taxation
to help pay for industrialization
February 1970
The right wing of the JP voted with the opposition
&
forced Demirel to resign
March 1970
New cabinet - No alternative to Demirel
Rift (split - dissention) superficially healed
December 1970
JP decedents
41 deputies and senators left the JP
&
founded the Democratic Party (Demokratik Parti)
led by Ferruh Bozbeyli
its name, recalling DP
Left of Center (Ortanın Solu)
New definition for RPP
The RPP moved left of center A new manifesto in the 1965
elections
written by two coming men of RPP
Turhan Feyzioğlu and Bülent Ecevit
Emphasis on social justice and social security
without being explicitly socialist
To mobilize the votes of
1) workers
2) inhabitants of the shanty towns (slum areas of towns)
RPP new stance did not profit in 1965 elections
Lacked credibility as a progressive party
The people in the squatter towns basically villagers
who had moved to the big city
taking their village values with them
as in the villages, they voted JP
JP propogandists’ tactics:
Left of center is the road to Moscow
Ortanın Solu Moskova’nın Yolu
After the defeat – Acrimonious (bitter) debate – Infighting
Blaming “the left-of-center” tactics
Extraordinary Congress of RPP - 1967
Increase of the central office’s hold over the party
Party dicipline
A group of 47 representatives and senators
who opposed the left-of-center line
left the party
to found the Güven Partisi (Reliance Party)
led by Turhan Feyzioğlu
Right of center
Ecevit’s main competitor for the position of “Crown prince”
Personal jealousy
The growth of political radicalism
On the left:
A growing student population
&
a growing industrial proletariat
On the right:
JP policies served the interests of
the modern industrial bourgeoisie, of big business
However, JP’s electoral base consisted of
a) farmers
&
b) small businessmen
They became the prime targets of both
a) the Islamic party
b) the ultra-nationalist party
NAP
The NAP led by Alpaslan Türkeş – an ultra-nationalist
(Nationalist Action Party / Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi)
Claimed to be opposed to both monopoly capitalism &
communism
From RPNP to NAP – 1969
Hierarchically organized, militant with ultra-nationalist
program – Nine Lights (Dokuz Işık)
Youth Organization – Ülkü Ocakları + Bozkurtlar
NOP
The NOP ( National Order Party / Milli Nizam Partisi ) 1970
headed by Necmettin Erbakan.
Voice of smaller businessmen
Used “Islamic” discourse to criticize the monopolies as lackeys
of the Christian/Jewish West
They posed a serious threat te Demirel’s power
Political violence in the late 1960s
Bombing attack, robbery and kidnapping
National Remaider System abolished in March 1968
Representatives of WPT played a very important role as
opposition
Left, without ouftlet for expressing discontent in the assembly,
vented their frustrations in the street
The violence of the left
met and surpassed by violence from the militant right
By early 1971:
Demirel weakened by defections - Became paralyzed
He was powerless to curb the violence
on the campuses and in the streets.
He could not hope to get
any serious legislation on social or financial reform
passed in the assembly
The fragmentation of the Right
became the major factor of political instability
By the early 1970s
Situation became explosive
A dangerous mix
Student and working-class militancy
Social and economic changes
Growing political conflict
World situation
A revolution of rising expectations
Expectation were not met
German economic miracle had syphoned off workers
Population growth
Widespread unemployment
Job market unable to absorb the younger population
Overcrowded schools and universities
Ideal for recruiting militants for the Left and the Right
Youth played a crucial role in creating political instability
Demirel sided with Turk İş
Wanted to destroy DİSK
A Law : Unless represented at least 1/3
Workers came out in protest on 15-16 June 1970
Paralysed the Istanbul-Marmara region
The Right described the protest as
“a dress rehearsal for revolution”
Beginning of 1971 – A state of turmoil
Leftist student militants robbed banks
Kidnapped US servicemen
Attacked American targets
Constant strike activity
The Gray Wolves, neo-fascist militants
Attacked professors who were critical of the goverment
Islamists became more aggressive
Openly rejected Atatürk and Kemalism,
infuriating the armed forces
12 March Memorandum (12 Mart Muhtırası)
Handed by the chief of the general staff
It amounted to an ultimatum by the armed forces
The memorandum demanded:
A strong and credible government
to end the “anarchy”
&
and carry out reforms “in a Kemalist spirit”
If demands were not met, the army would “exercise its
constitutional duty” and take over power itself
Demirel resigned
İnönü denounced any military meddling in politics
The new government installed by the generals
headed by Nihat Erim, member of the right wing of the RPP
Ecevit, infuriated, resigned as secretary-general
A cabinet consisted largely of technocrats
from the outside the political establishment.
Nihat Erim announced that his government would:
1.
restore law and order
2.
enact a number of long-overdue socio-economic reforms
Atilla Karaosmanoğlu (World Bank)
drew up a reform program:
1.
Land reform
2.
Land tax
3.
Nationalization of the mineral industry
4. Joint ventures to protect Turkish industry
at least % 51 Turkish-owned
Stubborn opposition from vested interests in business and
agriculture
But sophisticated industrialists
like Vehbi Koç and Nejat Eczacıbaşı
supported the reform proposals
Renewed terrorist attacks
NSC proclaimed martial law in 11 provinces
Renewed every two months for two years
Persons suspected of terrorism rounded up
Witch-hunt - The persecution of the left
Progressive liberal sympathisers arrested
5000 people put to jail
leading intellectuals (writers, journalists, professors),
leading members of the Workers Party of Turkey
prominent trade unionists
The NOP & WPT closed down in May & July 1971
Erbakan allowed to resume his activities in October 1972
under National Salvation Party (Milli Selamet Partisi)
Erim to compromise with the conservatives in the assemby
Demirel’s old ministers in the cabinet
11 reformist technocrats resigned
Replaced by politicians from the right
Erim’s new cabinet
amendments to the constitution
aiming at making it less liberal
support of the parties of the right
44 articles were changed.
Basically:
1. Limits to civil liberties
2. End to the autonomy of the universities and of radio and TV
3. Limit to freedom of the press
4. Curtailment of the powers of the Constitutional Court
5. Increase of the powers of the NSC
giving unsolicited advice to the cabinet - Binding advice
6. Foundation of special State Security Courts (Devlet Güvenlik
Mahkemeleri) to try over 3000 people
Abolished in 1976
The assembly refused
the right to rule by decree (kanun hükmünde kararname)
Nihat Erim resigned (April 1972)
Succeeded by Ferit Melen
one of the leaders of the Reliance Party
Collaborated more closely with JP
Principled stance of Ecevit
Ecevit ousted İnönü from the RPP chairmanship
succeeded him in Party conference (May 1972).
İnönü resigned from the RPP (November 1972)
The term of office of Cevdet Sunay (1966-1973) came to an end
The army put forward the chief of general staff Faruk Gürler
as his successor
Gürler was defeated
Fahri Korutürk, a retired admiral, became the president
He appointed the economist Naim Talu
to lead a caretaker government
to take the country to the free elections
October 1973 Elections:
produced a surprise result
RPP polled % 33.5 against % 29.5 won by JP
NSP: % 11.9
None of the parties had an absolute majority
Long-drawn-out negotiations
January 1974 - a new cabinet
Based on the surprising combination of RPP with NSP
RPP:
Social Democratic Identity
Won its votes in the progressive, industrial belt
Not in its traditional stronghold of backward, east and central
Anatolia
Attractive to urban migrants
Social democracy as the ideology of the future
NSP :
Opposition to the growth of monopolies
&
dependence on foreign capital
Call for heavy industry
&
an economy based on Islamic values
(interest-free banking)
The New Cabinet
A marriage of convenience: Common basis: the distrust of
a) European and American influence
b) Big business
Cyprus crisis broke out
Turkish forces in Cyprus
Ecevit became a national hero overnight
Karaoğlan
He wanted to use his popularity
to gain an absolute majority in early elections
Resigned to instigate new elections (September 1974)
A major miscalculation
A caretaker cabinet under Professor Sadi Irmak
Demirel finally formed a coalition:
First Nationalist Front
JP, the NSP, the NAP, RRP and defectors from the DP
Bribing them with cabinet posts – 30 ministers
Disproportioned influence of NSP & NAP
Colonizations of ministries in an unprecedented way
Thousands of civil servants discharged or demoted
Replaced with party loyalists
Increased violence and economic crisis
The elections of 1977
Ecevit’s popularity - RPP got % 41.4
JP went up to % 36.9
A stalemate
Attempt by Ecevit to form a coalition with the independents
Failure
Second “Nationalist Front” coalition by Demirel
Influence of the NSP and NAP greater than in the first one
Short lived. JP deputies defected
Ecevit formed a cabinet with defectors now independents
The independents given cabinet posts
It survived until October 1979
It could not master the rising tide of violence
The military grew increasingly disillusioned with
Ecevit’s soft attitude to terrorism and Kurdish separatism
October 1979 elections for the senate
Drop in support for the RPP
Defections from RPP
Ecevit lost majority - Resigned
Demirel returned to power
Minority government supported by independents
JP-RPP coalition
proved impossible to realize throughout 1973-80
They were unable to cooperate
The political system gradually became paralysed
giving small extremist groups disproportionate influence
Polarization of the big parties due to ideological factors
President Fahri Korutürk’s term ended in 1980
Paralysis -The assembly proved incapable of electing president
after 100 rounds of voting
Overwhelming problems Turkey faced in the 1970s
(1) Political violence (2) Economic crisis.
The development policies of the governments :
the substitution of imports through industrialization
Direct investment incentives:
subsidies & tax rebates
Economic crisis
1973 – 1980
The creation of a home-grown industry:
1. Extensive import restrictions and high tariffs
2. Manipulation of the exchange rates
3. Creation of a buoyant internal market
1. Extensive import restrictions & high tariffs
to keep out European & American industrial products
2. Manipulation of the exchange rate
by keeping the rate of the TL artificially high
Firms, to buy foreign investment goods & raw materials,
allowed to purchase $ or DM comparatively cheaply
3. Creation of a buoyant internal market through Populism:
a) paying high guarantee prices to farmer (above world price)
b) allowing industrial workers high wage rises
Industries
which would never have been able to compete on world market
made handsome profits on the home front.
New industries spread unevenly among regions
Vast majority established in the Istanbul area
smaller concentrations around İzmir and Adana
Import-substitution strategy
successful for some time
1963 - 1976 the annual rate of growth averaged % 6.9
Role of the state economic enterprises still important
% 40 of total industrial production
Inefficiency:
Reasons:
1) Political concern
2) Social concern
1. Business decisions in the state state sector, including the
pricing of products, remained politically influenced
2. Huge overstaffing as a result of patronage system
Result: Heavy losses to be covered through the state budget
New industries heavily dependent on imports
(foreign parts & materials for production)
dependency:
on the availability of foreign reserves to pay for them
Economy became extremely vulnerable
Since the 1950s
Increasing dependence on oil as a source of energy
The oil crisis of 1973-74
quadrupled price on the international market
Steep rise in import bill
Second oil price shock in 1979-80
2/3 of foreign currency earnings to meet oil bill
Recession in Europe
Western market for Turkish products declined
For a while
Possibility to keep up economic growth
by depleting the Central Bank’s foreign reserves
Using the transfers of the Turkish workers in Germany
Remittances began to decline steeply after 1974:
a) Recession – Unemployment
b) Political unrest – Loss of trust
1. The situation of the workers in Europe deteriorated
2. They lost confidence in the situation in Turkey
They kept their money in Germany
Governments tried to solve problems by:
1.
concluding costly short-term Eurodollars loans
2. printing money
3.
conserving foreign reserves through import restrictions
Scarcety of oil for industry & electricity generating
By 1979 power cuts off up to 5 hours a day
Fuelled inflation
a) Rising price of energy b) Irresponsible financial policies
Inflation running around % 20 during the early 1970s
By 1979 it was at % 90
To keep inflation down:
1) price control thought Price-Control Board
Result = huge black market
2) Artificially high rate of exchange for the TL
Devaluation always came too late
Import restrictions imposed to save foreign exchange
a) fuelled the black market
b) gave rise to large-scale smuggling
Radical measures
to extricate Turkey from its financial and economic impasses
Ecevit negotiated with IMF, World Bank and OECD
for new credits (1978)
Creditors demanded drastic economic reforms
Agreement to release 1.8 billion $ in new credits (July 1979)
Dependent on a reform program to be implemented
1. Abolishing import and export controls
2. Cutting subsidies
3. Freeing interest rates
4. Raising prices
5. Cutting government expenditure
Demirel’s government
The task of implementing given to Turgut Özal
the under-secretary (müsteşar)
for economic affairs in charge of planning
24 January 1980
Reform package launched (called “Chilian solution” )
Credits began to arrive
Widespread resistance
Activities of the trade unions
made it impossible to implement economic package
Members of DISK occupied factories - Strikes
accompanied by clashes with the security forces
The Third Republic
Political Structure
1980 - 2002
The Third Republic
The coup: 12 September 1980
Armed forces took over political power – To save democracy
The communiqué
State organs had stopped functioning
The the existing political system uprooted
1.
Parliament dissolved
2.
Cabinet deposed
3.
Immunity (dokunulmazlık) of the deputies lifted
4.
Political leaders arrested
5.
Political parties abolished
6. Radical trade unions confederations, DİSK and MİSK
suspended
7.
Mayors & municipal councils dismissed
A state of emergency (olaganüstü hal) declared
Concentration of all power in the hands of the military
National Security Council (Milli Güvenlik Konseyi)
headed by General Kenan Evren
declared head of state (devlet başkanı)
(14 September 1980)
Local commenders, under martial law, given wide-ranging
powers
Closures of newspapers – Arrests of journalists & editors
Eventual return to democratic system envisaged
Enforcement of radical changes
before handing power back to the civilians
Undoing work of their predecessors,
perpetrators of 27 May
Saw their task:
a) saving democracy from the politicians
b) Purging the political system
A 27-member cabinet under Bülent Ulusu (Retired admiral)
Composed of bureaucrats and retired officers
A wave of arrests swept the country after the coup
In the first 6 weeks - 11.500 people arrested
By the end of 1980 - the number grew to 30.000
After one year - 122.600 arrests had been made
Politically motivated terrorist attacks diminished
but at great human and social cost
Trials held before military courts under martial law
Within 2 years - 3600 death sentences pronounced
15 carried out. Tens of thousands of lesser sentences
The new constitution prepared by a constitutional committee
headed by Professor OrhanAldıkaçtı (İstanbul University)
A constituent assembly (Danışma Meclisi) of 160 members
met on 23 October 1981
(120 appointed by the military governors, 40 by the NSC)
Elected 15-member constitutional committee
The Constitution of 1982
A reversal of the 1961 constitution
1. Concentration of power in the hands of the executive
2. Increase of the powers of the president and the NSC
3. Limits to freedom of the press, freedom of trade unions
(banning political strikes, solidarity strikes & national strikes)
4. Limits to rights and liberties of the individual
The usual rights and liberties
(freedom of speech, freedom of association, etc)
included in the constitution
Rights & Liberties could be annulled, suspended or limited
on the following considerations:
1.
the national interest,
2. public order,
3.
national security,
4.
danger to the republican order and public health.
Constitution subjected to a referendum
7 November 1982
Voting made compulsory
Anyone who chose not to or neglected to vote:
a) had to pay a fine
b) lost the right to vote for five years
Criticism of
a) the constitution
b) speeches General Evren held in favour of yes vote
banned
The referendum yielded expected result:
a yes vote of % 91.4
New Law on Political Parties promulgated (March 1983)
Politicians active before September 1980 banned from politics
for 10 years
New parties could be formed
but their founders needed the approval of the NSC
Students, teachers & civil servants barred
from party membership
Parties not allowed
a) to found women’s or youth branches
b) b) to develop links with trade unions
c) to open branches in villages.
15 parties founded,
but 12 not approved by the military
3 parties allowed to take part in the elections
1. The Party of Nationalist Democracy
Milliyetçi Demokrasi Partisi
Identified with & supported by the generals
Led by retired general Turgut Sunalp
2. The Populist Party
Halkçı Partı
led by Necdet Calp
3. The Motherland Party
Anavatan Partisi
led by Turgut Özal
Turgut Özal - behind the economic reform program
served as a minister in charge of the economy under the
military regime (Bülent Ulusu government)
6 November 1983 Elections
MP scored an overwhelming victory - polling over % 45
PP did reasonably well to poll % 30
PND came the third with % 23
New electoral system heavily weighted in favor of majority
To limit the disproportionate influence of the small parties
Before 1980 = one of the reasons for the breakdown of system
The % 45 gave the MP an absolute majority
Under Turgut Özal
slow process of further democratization went on
Before the municipal elections of March 1984
the parliament voted to allow some of the parties
banned the year before to participate
The Municipal elections of March 1984
The MP did only marginally less well than five months earlier
% 41.5
The Social Democratic Party 23.5 per cent
[Sosyal Demokrat Parti ]
led by professor Erdal İnönü
The True Path Party polled % 13.5
[Doğru Yol Partisi]
Süleyman Demirel’s party, - fronted by other politicians
The National Salvation Party, got % 4.5 of the vote
[Milli Selamet Partisi]
Necmettin Erbakan’s party, - fronted by other politicians
The Populist Party less than % 9
The Party of Nationalist Democracy only % 7
Strange political landscape
Opposition parties in parliament lost their legitimacy
Parties with sizeable portion of the electorate behind them
not represented on a national level
Solutions:
On the Left:
PP and SDP merged to form Social Democratic Populist Party
[Sosyal Demokrat Halkçı Parti – SPP] November 1985.
A new challenger for the inheritance of old RPP
The Democratic Left Party DLP
Demokratik Sol Partisi - DSP
Led from behind the scenes by Bülent Ecevit
fronted by his wife, Rahşan Ecevit - party chairwoman
The Ecevits
a) depicted SPP as elitist and old fashioned
b) declared the PDL as the only true workers’ party
On the Right
The leadership of PND dissolved the party - May 1986
Representatives joined the MP & PTP
18 members of SPP deserted to the DLP - December 1986
giving DLP representation in parliament
Özal accepted the challenge of the old guard
Referendum on a change in the constitution
to allow the old politicians to take part in politics
Referendum - 6 September 1987.
% 50.24 yes against % 49.76 no
The result of the referendum led Özal to announce
early national elections
29 November 1987 Elections
The MP managed to retain its absolute majority
MP polled % 36.3
SPP % 24.5
PTP came third - % 19.2
Other parties failed to pass the threshold [baraj] (% 10)
March 1989: Municipal elections
The results:
Support for the MP severely eroded
MP suffers major defeat in local elections
Reasons:
Corruption and unpopular economic policies
With both voters and private sector
SPP came out on top, % 28.2
PTP came second % 25.6
MP managed only third place % 21.9
Evren’s term came to an end - November 1989
Regardless of the electoral result
Özal stood as presidential candidate
The opposition boycotted the session of the TBMM
in which the new president was elected
Turgut Özal elected 8th president of Turkey
Yıldırım Akbulut replaced him as PM
He lacks Özal’s authority
&
fortunes of party decline hereafter
Reasons for the decline of Özal’s popularity
High inflation - back to pre-1980 level of around % 80
Erosion of purchasing power
2. Nepotism and corruption surrounding the regime
Özal’s belief:
Unrestricted capitalism free-for-all
Resulted in a number of business scandals
Özal family criticized for
a) nepotism
b) corruption in their business activities
June 1991
Mesut Yılmaz elected leader of MP
Forms new cabinet
He is expected to give party youthful and modern image
20 October 1991 Elections:
PTP (center-right) won the elections %27
MP % 24
SPP - disappointing result % 20
% 20 included votes for People’s Labour Party
(Halkın Emek Partisi)
Their candidates contested the elections on the SPP slate
Personal animosity between Demirel and Özal
prevented coalition
A coalition of PTP and SPP
Süleyman Demirel: Prime Minister
Erdal İnönü: Vice Prime Minister
17 April 1993
President Turgut Özal dies of heart attack at age of 66
Parliament elects Süleyman Demirel as Turkey’s 9th president
Leaving his party without strong leader
13 June 1993
Tansu Çiller elected leader of TPP
First woman to lead Turkey, heading coalition with the Social
Democrats
25 March 1994
The Welfare Party, (the party of political Islam)
Makes a breakthrough in local elections
Its candidates becoming mayors of Istanbul and Ankara
18 February 1995
Social Democrat parties – RPP and SPD unite under umbrella
of RPP
23 July 1995
Parliament passes amendments to 15 articles of constitution,
designed to make political life more democratic
20 September
Coalition collapses, leading to early election
24 December 1995
WP (representing political Islam) wins with % 21.38
of votes and 158 seats,
Insufficient to form government
Political crisis follows
6 March 1996
MP and TPP coalition is formed
Unstable - hostility between two leaders
Mesut Yılmaz – Tansu Çiller
6 June 1996
Mesut Yılmaz resigns
opening way for Necmettin Erbakan
29 June 1996
Erbakan and Çiller announce formation of coalition
Both leaders agree to shelve investigations of corruption against
each other
28 February 1997
NSC advises Erbakan-led coalition to clamp down / put
pressure on Islamist activity, especially the wearing of
headscarves in universities
18 June 1997
Erbakan decides to resign hoping to be replaced by Tansu Çiller
as PM and for coalition to continue
President Demirel appoints Mesut Yılmaz (Motherland Party)
to form new coalition
New coalition:Yılmaz + Ecevit
16 January 1998
a) Constitutional court orders dissolution of Welfare Party for
violating principle of secularism,
b) Bans Erbakan from party’s leadership for 5 years
17 December 1997
In anticipation
Islamists had already formed Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi)
21 April 1998
Continuing offensive against political Islam
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mayor of Istanbul and member of VP
sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment
for a speech made in 1997,
exploiting Islam & inciting religious heatred
26 November 1998
PM Mesut Yılmaz resigns amid charges of mafia connections
11 January 1999
DLP leader Ecevit forms new cabinet to lead the country to an
early general election
18 April 1999
General election won by Ecevit and NAP (extreme right)
center-right parties collapse
3 May 1999
Ecevit is reappointed PM
Coalition with NAP and MP
5 May 2000
Ahmet Necdet Sezer, president of Constitutional Court, replaces
Demirel as president
21 June 2001
Constitutional Court dissolves VP,
describing it a center of Islamic fundamentalism
21 July 2001
Political Islamists form Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi)
as successor to VP
14 August 2001
Moderates from VP, led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, found
Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi)
claiming to be secular ‘Muslim democrats’, not successors to
former VP
3 November 2002
Early general election
brings AK Party to power with % 34.3 of ballot and 363 seats
RPP with % 19.4 & 178 seats becomes the opposition
with no other parties managing to clear the % 10 electoral
barrier
Economic Structure
1980 – 2005
1980-1991
The efforts to restructure the economy
24 January 1980 :“The “stabilization program”
Turgut Özal
the architect of the IMF-inspired economic reform package
of the last Demirel cabinet
The Program become effective after 12 September 1980:
Military takeover
The suppression of
the trade unions and the political left by the military
Renewal of confidence for Turkey
International business world and financial community
represented by
the IMF, the World Bank and the OECD,
Flow of credits, denied to pre-1980 governments, resumed.
National debt
grew from 13.5 billion $ to 40 billion $ in 1989.
But the repayment posed no real problems
The aims of the program. Threefold
1. To improve the balance of payments
2. To combat inflation
3. To create an export-orientated free market economy
The means employed to attain these goals:
1. Drastic (and ongoing) devaluation of the TL
to make Turkish exports competitive in foreign markets
2. Rise in the interest rates: From – to + interest rates
to reduce over consumption and thus inflation.
3. Wage-freeze of workers
to increase competitiveness and lower inflation
4. Price-rises - the abolition or reduction of state subsidies
to reduce budget deficit
Exports encouraged
through a set of specific measures:
1.
Subsidies for exporters – tax examption etc. (vergi iadesi)
2. Simplification of the notoriously complicated bureaucratic
export procedures
3. Abolition of the customs duties on imported inputs for
export-orientated industries
A drop in real purchasing power
of between %40 - 60
for most wage-earners in the years 1979-89
Caused by:
a)
price rises
b)
a freeze on wages
c)
high interest rates (purchases on credit reduced)
The main winners of the decade:
Large-scale economic units
the existing and emerging big holdings
Types of family holdings in the 80s
1. generation: RPP generation
Koç & Eczacıbaşı group
had roots which went back to the 1920s.
2. generation: DP-AP generation
Sabancı group
begun their rise in the 1950s
3. generation: ANAP generation
Anka and STFA - Building firms (early 1980s)
profited from building boom in Arab oil-producing countries
used the opportunity to branch out into other sectors
Nearly all these firms
a) family-owned
b) structured as holding companies
with their own
banks, insurance, trading and production companies.
The early stage of accumulation & import substitution
Imports and joint ventures with foreign firms
Main business: production of goods under license
Holdings, in times
became export-orientated
without halting their earlier activities
The government tried to keep down prices
for industrial goods
by encouraging competition on the home market
through the abolition of import restrictions
Luxury items could be freely imported
subject to a special tax
Revenue used for the housing program (toplu konut)
Foreign investors encouraged:
1.
No longer faced discriminatory measures
2. Repatriation of invested capital and the export of profits
made possible
3. Investors given preferential treatment regarding import
duties
4. Free trade zones instituted in different places (around the
ports of İzmir and Mersin and near Adana)
Firms sep up factories & re-exported their products
Government promoted
investment in infrastructure & utilities
1. Telecommunications & road networks modernized
2. Construction of natural gas pipelines from the Soviet
Union
Significant impact on air pollution
replacing the inferior coal & lignite
New constructions took place on
“build-operate-transfer” basis (yap-işlet-devr et)
1. Foreign investor builded a facility (a power plant, airport)
&
2. Operated it until its costs recovered & profit margin achieved
3. Handed over facilities to government for further operation
Used in energy & tourism sector
The building up of a tourism industry
energetically pursued
By the late 1980s - Turkey
captured a sizeable part of Mediterranean holiday market
became a popular destination for package tours
The Gulf crisis - 1990-91
hit the tourism industry hard
It recovered quickly in 1992
following the civil war in the former Yugoslavia
South-Est Anatolia Project
Gigantic
(GAP – Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi)
energetically pursued project
The plan envisaged
the building of a whole complex of dams on Fırat and Dicle
including hydro electrical plants and irrigational works
a) to produce energy for industry
b) to irrigate 1.6 million hectares in the plain of Harran
doubling the area under cultivation
The main part of the project
The enormous Atatürk dam on Fırat opened in 1992
The project and the dam built
without financial assistance from international agencies
For political reasons
to avoid having to reach agreement with downstream countries
about sharing the water
Syria and Iraq
The stabilization program achieved many of its aims:
1.
Exports grew by an average % 22 yearly
during the years 1980-87
2. The nature of Turkish exports changed over the decade
In 1979
% 60 of exports had consisted of agricultural products
In 1988
this was down to % 20
Over the same period
the % of industrial products in total exports
grew to over 72
Among the industrial goods
textiles were of special importance
contributing over a 1/4 of the total value of the exports
3. Export destinations changed
The early 1980s coincided with the 2. boom in world oil prices
The Turkish exporters, supported by the Government
managed to profit from
the new wealth in the Arab oil-producing countries
A period
Turkish exports to the Middle East & North Africa
exceeded those to EC
with Iran the single biggest market
B period
The older pattern re-established itself
E C once again main Turkish export market
Imports went up and exceeded exports
The balance of payments gap closed
by remissions from workers in Europe
Political stability & attractive interest rates
above the rate of inflation
encouraged workers to put their money in Turkish banks
High interest rates & wage freeze
combined to lower inflation - % 30 - 40 in the ½ of 80s
Inflation rose once again
it reached its pre-1980 level in 1988
Reason:
The continuing high budgetary deficit
Causes:
1. Failure to curb the growth of civil service
2. Inefficient taxation
Profits of the industrial holdings left untouched
3. Huge state industrial sector KİTs
Inefficient and largely loss-making
The privatization program
progressed very slowly
Reason: State industries - old-fashioned & overstaffed
The private investors not interested in them
The abolition of a number of government monopolies:
private airline companies & television stations
1989: The turning-point – Spiriling inflation
1. A serious drought (dry weather)
Agricultural producers (and exporters) hit hard
2. Increase in interest rates
Cutbacks in government investment
3. A high exchange rate for the TL
The TL’s gradual devaluation dropped behind inflation
By 1990 it was overvalued by some 40 per cent
The economic policies of the 1980s greatly increased the
differences between rich and poor
1. A new class of often very wealthy entrepreneurs arose
Fortunes made in import, export & construction
2. The purchasing power - the majority of the population
drastically reduced & real poverty in many homes
3. A steep rise in the number of unemployed (İşsizlik)
Labor unrest increased - 1990-91
January 1991 – 1.5 million employees held a general strike
The slowdown in the world economy
at the end of the 1980s
The projected growth of the 6. Five-Year Plan (1990-94)
proved unattainable
Turkey more sensitive to global economic trends
because of
its export-orientated economy
Turkey entered
a period of low growth
combined with high inflation and growing unemployment
1994
Nature of crises
Balance of payments crises
Originating mainly from the capital account
Caused partly by domestic imbalance
Origins:
Fiscal imbalances; Relaxation of austerity measures
steady appreciation of the real exchange rate;
export stagnation, import boom, outflow of short-term capital
External Dimension
Significant over-dependence
on fragile short-term capital inflows
following premature capital account liberalization
in August 1989
International actors in the post-crisis context:
IMF : the primary actor
EU: involved through the Customs Union
Political consequences
Democratic regime remained intact
An implicit link:
The negative effect of 1994 crisis
The rise of political Islam
Indirect or “postmodern” military intervention
February 1997 (28 Şubat)
2000 / 2001 Crises
Nature of crises
Balance of payments crisis caused by
Successive speculative attacks and massive outflows of capital
leading to
a) the collapse of growth
b) heavy unemployment
Both internal and external imbalances are important
Origins
Disequilibrium in the banking sector
Private banks in 2000 & public banks in 2001
Strong link:
Disequilibria in the banking sector and fiscal imbalances
External dimension
Highly volatile external environment
Characterized by recurrent crisis in emerging markets
&
reversible capital flows
especially after Asian crisis of 1997
Export performance
negatively affected by
the Russian crisis
&
weak global demand
Rendered the economy highly vulnerable to a crisis
International actors in the post-crisis context
IMF is the critical actor both in the pre-and post-crisis era
The role of the EU decisive for the first time
IMF and EU anchors are increasingly interrelated
World Bank involved as a secondary actor
What went wrong between 1980 & 2001 ?
There was considerable liberalization in foreign economy
policy
Difficulty: undertaking long-term structural reforms
such as
a) privatization &
b) achieving the retreat of the state on the domestic front
Özal’s liberalization agenda – accompanied by the expansion &
concentration of the state’s economic power
Public sector still dominated in the economy
The creation of the out-of-budget funds (public housing &
public transportation) under direct control of PM
The behavior of economic groups (reliance on import
substitution policies)
A new export elite prospered
because of
export subsidies & export promotion schemes
Side payments to various interest groups - Populism
a) Subsidies for the agricultural elite &
b) Industrial incentives for various industrial groups, lowering
of import tariffs on certain goods
Crucial for building large electoral coalitions
Democratic pressures & electoral concerns
increased the need
for more side payments &
extension of state patronage
Although economic policies changed
a) the institutional setting
b) the nature of bureaucracy &
c) the personalized, higly politicized distribution of state
patronage
remained intact
Payments dstributed to the constituencies
Examples of side payments by existing governments:
TPP (Çiller) farmers
above-the-world-market base prices
RPP - urban workers - wage increases
TPP – WP coalition – support for the new Anatolian business
community & small-to-medium-sized enterprises
ANAP coalition – rising base prices for tea
Populist policies resulting from;
Increased political fragmentation in the parliament
The need for coalition governments and frequent elections
The problem with privitization:
The paradox: Liberal agenda coexisting with a state based on
patronage
Some success in the 1980s
Less than %10 of the privatization program’s goals in the
1990s
Turkey ranked among the worst three privatizing countries.
1987-1997 total revenue from P did not exceed $ 3 billion
Unresolved problems:
Endemic fiscal deficits with inadequate tax revenues & rising
external / internal debt
Significant policy contraints introduced by globalization
Transformation of political economy from
A protected and closed regime
to
An export-oriented liberal one
Turkey’s economic performance in the 1990s disappointing
compared to
that of the 1980s
&
changes in other emerging markets
To attract a significant amount of Foreign Direct Investments
(FDI) and portfolio investments
To become significant players in regional and global trade
Turkey became a liberal economy
But not enough to push for public-sector reform & end
patronage-based politics
The necessity of setting up institutional framework to resolve
the distributional conflicts
resulting from openness and liberalization
Reasons for Turkey’s stagnant economic performance
Extreme forms of popular spending & spiraling public deficits
Rapid technological change
The pace of financial integration
The liberalization strategies adopted in 1980s
As a response to globalization pressures
insufficient to reap the benefits of a highly interdependent
global economy
Crucial issues:
Turkey’s ability to implement institutional & public-sector
reforms
Turkey’s foreign economic policy:
Turkey applied a liberalization strategey in its external ties
This is not enough / at times counterproductive
Solution:
Ongoing coordination of domestic industrial strategies,
technology policies, & incentive mechanisms
with those of foreign economic venues
To combine proactive foreign economic strategies with
domestic institutional reforms and development goals
Political consequences
A decisive turning point
The democratic regime proved to be highly resilient
(recuperating quickly)
in the face of the crisis
Collapse of the democratic regimes
following 1958/59 & 1978/60 crises
1960
Restoration of democracy over a relatively short period of time
1980 Longer military rule
Restoration of full or unrestricted party competition
over a longer period
The impact of the changed international environment
&
The presence of a powerful EU anchor
Turkey finds itself at a crossroads
After having experienced the most serious crisis in its recent
history between 2000-2001, the economy has recovered and
reveals one of the highest growth levels amongst the OECD
countries.
The adoption of a new institutional framework in terms of
monetary and budgetary policies
as well as product, labor and capital markets,
including infrastructure sectors and agricultural subsidies,
a path has opened up that will enable the country to free itself
of three traps linked to
a lack of confidence,
government weakness &
extreme informality in committing itself long term to the road
to greater growth
This new framework of measures must be set entirely in motion
and completed for it realize its full potential.