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Turkey's troubles started after the initial fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1919. Two separate parties emmerged from the rubble of the Empire: the Nationalists Party and the Society of Defense Rights. In 1920, these opposing groups clashed, resulting in an agreement to hold elections for a new Parliament, the last Ottoman one. The lower house of this parliament was firm in its pursuit of Turkish independence, though it would not state who from. That same year, the Nationalist Party voted "National Pact", a declaration of Turkish independence leading to the Allies' (England,France and the U.S.) formal declaration of the occupation of Istanbul. By the end of that year, the Allies had full military occupation of Istanbul, and Turkey. By the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed completely. In 1922, a fundamental political and social revolution took place, and the Sultanate, or Kingship, of Turkey was abolished by November of that year. A man named Mustafa Kemal became head of the SDR, running the party in Ankara, and arranged the election of a new Parliament system -the Grand National Assembly. He was elected President of the GNA in December of 1922 and led the War of Liberation against such world powers as Greece. The next move of Kemal's was the declaration of a Republic, occurring in 1923, to which he was again elected President.
Quick to denounce the Middle Eastern mind-frame as well as the European, the GNA closed all religious schools and convents, and later the mosques, sparking the Kurdish Revolt of 1925. By 1926, the Turkish Holy Law and Religious Endowments was replaced by the Swiss Civil Code. Turkey adopted the Roman script, completely cutting its ties to the Middle East by abandoning cumbersome Arabic writing.
In 1924, a Progressive Republican Party was formed by dissidents of the People's Party, the party of Kemal Ataturk. But by 1925, the Progressive Republican Party was disbanded.
Following an assassination attempt on Kemal Ataturk in 1926, the leading members of the former PRP were either executed or exiled. Later, in 1929, Ataturk led a revolt against the Maintenance of Public Order Law, which had exiled party members in 1928.
In 1938, the Turkish flag lowered in honor of Mustafa Kemal, known since 1924 as Kemal Ataturk. A long-time opposition of Ataturk's, Inonu, became President of the Republic. Shortly after the death of Ataturk, the Turkish people bent under strict political leadership not unlike the censored, Stalinized Soviet Union.
In the outbreak of World War II, Turkey was faced with another set of crises. While the political machines of Turkey had become fascinated with the prospect of aiding Nazi Germany, the people had discovered the freedom of democracy present in most of Western Europe, but not yet introduced to the Turkish people. During the course of the War, Turkey remained divided; people against government. Only when it became clear that the Allies would win did Turkey's more liberal side show itself. The final Allied victory, in fact, was the turning point of Turkey's governmental system. Democracy flourished, opening new doors of escapefrom the regime of the Middle Eastern way of life. But democracy, to a country that had never known of it before, spilled out of control.
The government no longer had control of anything, and could set no laws.
It was only when the USSR, at the end of WWII, opened new hostilities toward Turkey that they found themselves in the grip of another social and political upheaval. England, and later the US, rushed to Turkey's aid. The economical assistance these two world powers gave soon put Turkey back on its feet. Turkey's people, from the very rich down to the very poor, showed a new intrest in independence at this point.
During the period of 1945 to 1950, moderate and progressive elements gradually gained the upper hand. The most significant move the people made at this point was to lift the ban(on the formation of political parties) that had been established in the 1930's. The only laws released about party formation was that they could be neither communist or religious. As new parties emmerged, the Democrat Party became the most prominent, eventually overshadowing all others.
But these changes weren't the only ones the Turkish "Era of Change" was to see. Labour could now organize into Unions, though it still couldn't strike. The Land Law of 1940 was modified in favor of landowners. In 1949, small measures of religion were re-introduced to the school system. The DP also re-established the official religion to Islam.
By 1960, however, Turkey was faced with another governmental collapse. The once liberal DP had, in effect, become Neo-Ottoman. The years under a National Assembly headed by the Democrat Party had seen the prosecution, and(on more than one occasion) the execution, of journalists, editors, or newspaper owners who spoke out against the Party.
In August of 1960, when an uncontrollable riot broke out in front of the political offices in Ankara, the military stepped in. Into the suddenly vacant seats of the government. Formed from the ashes of the revolution-stricken Republic of Turkey emerged the NUC(National Union of Cultures). The NUC's control lasted only one year, and its only real impacts on Turkish politics rested in its loose control of the revolution-- torn country, and its election of civillains to Cabinet positions. This all had
an extremely violent impact on politics in Turkey.
In a span of 50 years, the Turkish people maintained 4 separate systems and almost 30 separate governments. Of all governments, the Caretaker Coalition was the most successful. While the other governments either died out or were overthrown, the CC still remained, to a lesser degree, even into the 1990s.
GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY
By 1990, Turkey's government had become a republican parliamentary democracy, since Turkey never really defined "democracy". Since then, there are 67 provinces of the Republic of Turkey. The principal one of the 67 is the province of Ankara, which contains Turkey's capital, Ankara.
Even though Turkey gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1920's, it wasn't until 1982 that they formed its four-branch government. Since 1990, Turkey has had an executive branch: a President(elected every 7 years); a unicameral legislative branch: a 450 member GNA; A Prime Minister position(acting in similarity to the US's Vice President); and a judiciary branch, independent from the governmental structure.
Any citizen over 18 years of age may vote, even women.
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