Democracy
in Turkey After
the middle age, the 16th century was the witness of the process
of modernization. With the help of the humanist thoughts and
the discovery of the new continents, The Renaissance, The
Reform, and Industrial Revolution in 17th century, changed
the image of Europe intellectually and functionally. Those
changings made people conscious about their lives and made
them ready to fight for their freedom and their rights. Beside
Europe, The Ottoman Empire did not have these kinds of developments,
nor scientifically, nor technically, nor intellectually because
its system did not require those kinds of changing. The Ottoman Empire had been governed by under the authority of the sultans with an egalitarian system. Though the sultan ensured this system, there wasn’t anyone else who had the right to say his opinion about the governing of the empire. It was signed between the government and the senators in 1807. This act has a great importance in the democratic movement, as it is the first undertaking to limit the monarchial authority of the sultan. The senators took the authority to tax from government and they became more powerful in terms of military; consequently, they became more independent. In this period, the janissaries have dethroned the Sultan Selim, than the senator of Rusçuk, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, made Mahmut ?2nd ascend the throne. Than he paid attention to the corruption of the janissaries, and he proposed an entente; considering that any disagreement between the government and the senators might endanger the security of the empire. Finally, the act of alliance has been signed and the sultan, who could not stop the fall of the absolute monarchy, accepted all the clauses restricting his authority. Clause7: The amount of taxing will be defined according to the results of the negotiations between the senators and the government. The act of alliance has lost its function with the revolt of the janissaries who were displeased because of the act. This period represents the reformist movement and the historical period after those reforms. After the Mahmut 2nd, Sultan Abdülmecid, taking the base of Mahmut 2nd’s plan, realized that the government needs deep reforms, so he gave the duty to make a reform program to Mustafa Reşit Paşa. As a consequence of this plan the government denounced “Gülhane Hatt-I Hümayunu”in 1839. First, taxation and the social relationships have been regulated. The relationships with the European countries have been ameliorated; however, this amelioration has brought the problem of minorities. Moreover, some traditionalist groups revealed their discomfort about the interference of the foreign institutions and laws. The period of progress had been paused by the sent of the Mstafa Reşit Paşa abroad. Than the regulations on social structure have been accelerated. The systems of education and military service have been regulated. Along these adjustments, Mustafa Reşit Paşa has become the grand vizier. Financial ones followed social regulations; though the foreign relations were going well; a difficult period commenced for the empire, because of the minority problems and augmentation of external debts. The biggest failure of this period has been the contradictions of the traditional system and the revolutions; as these contradictions inhibited the revolutions to be constant and successful. By the command of improvement, the minorities have been given some rights; but these rights encouraged European countries to interfere the internal affaires of the Ottoman Empire. The Arbitrary behavior and the exaggerative expenses of the new sultan, Abdülaziz, caused the revolutionary spirit to lose its function. The endeavor of couple of reformists had not been enough to stop the period of reforms to end. Although, this period had concluded with disappointment, there had been strong establishments on education, law and finance. It has been started to
work with the speech of Sultan Abdülaziz in 1868.It had three
groups of competence: The sultan appointed the members of this council but if they would prove any disorganization or malfunctioning in the system, they had right to warn the assembly and the sultan. As this council could judge and warn the sultan, it took his rights to govern the empire in an arbitrary way, so it is very important in the process of democratizing. Kanun-i Esasi and the First Constitutional Government The failure of the reforms made in the past showed the necessity of a new governmental structure. In 1876, the reformist president of the council of the state, Mithad Paşa, and his supporters had dethroned Sultan Abdülaziz, because of his restricting policy. The passive behavior of the following sultan, Murat 5th, slowed down the march to the new system. Therefore, the Abdülhamit 2nd, who promised to build a constitutional government, has been ascended to the throne in 1876.In this period, Mithad Paşa has become the grand vizier and he decided to make some laws to regulate the situation of the empire. Kanun-i Esasi, which was created with the inspiration of the French constitution, became valid in 1876. However, A Abdülhamit 2nd was not on the side of the constitutional government but he only pretended to be, to ascent to the throne. He drew away Mithad Paşa according to the 113th clause of the Kanun-i Esasi (the authority to send persons who disturb the security of the state to exile). Abdülhamit 2nd took control of the assembly of common. He created an assembly of senators with the senators that he had chosen himself; he also had the authority to disperse both of these assemblies. All those authorities are the examples of antidemocratic movements in the process of democratizing. Finally, because of the wars and revolts, the sultan closed the assemblies and ended the first constitutional government. (1878) Second Constitutional Government After 30 years of despotism, the supporters of constitution continued their activities abroad. The Jeune Turks, who were the members of the party of “Ittıhat ve Terakki”, accelerated this movement. The Jeune Turks who were able to enter to the Empire diffused their thoughts. In 1908, with the help of the military acts of Jeune Turks, the government had to denounce the constitution again. The assembly of the common was opened again and the members of “Ittihak ve Terakki” had an indirect control on power. Abdülhamit 2nd had been dethroned because of his hypocrisy, and fundamental adjustments on liberty, human rights, liberty of press, the authority of the sultan, system of election were made. These adjustments were not practiced because of the external problems and unstable politics, thus there had been an opposition against the power. In this period, which could be identified as a little model of the multiple party system, an opposition party has won the election against Terakki. Nevertheless, the members of the Terakki have taken over the control of the government, using the defeat of the Balkans as a shield. The party of “Ittihak ve Terakki” had taken the control again without any political influence. The repetitive mistakes brought the defeat in the First World War. The assembly that was opened during the War of Independence Was closed in 1920, by Mehmet6th, on the same date the Turkish National Assembly was established in Ankara, as the second period of constitutional government has ended. The republic and the period of single party At the end of the First World War the Ottoman Empire has broke up and the period of second constitutional government had totally ended with the establishment of the Turkish National Assembly in 1920.The Turkish National Assembly had the authorities to legislate and execute but the existing system and the constitution of 1921 didn’t work out very well. Therefore, as the government needed a new regime, the republic has been denounced in 29 October 1923, and a new constitution has been created which was in harmony with the new system. The republic has become the basis and the regulator of the revolutions and the principles of Atatürk. In the beginning the public wasn’t aware of the properties of the republican regime, as they became aware of their rights and theirs liberties, they became fond of this new regime. In the first years of the republic, the attempts to pass on the multiple party system failed. ”Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi” has become the single political power on the government .But this power has became sort of despotic as the press liberty has been destroyed, pressures on jurisdiction and human rights had appeared. The period of multiple parties Before 1945 as the majority dominated the assembly the system worked with only one party. In 1946, the activities of opposition parties were allowed, which shows that CHP respected the opposite thoughts. There had been more than five parties in the election of 1950 thus; DP came over to the power. After ten years of governing, DP had lost the power with a coup d’etat, and constitutional adjustments have been made. With the constitution of 1961, the adjustments on legislation, execution and justice were made .This constitution was created with the participation of the universities and syndicates, the liberty and rights of individuals were very important. 1982 and the period after 1982 In this period, the government was formed by ANAP. After the government of ANAP there had been big social and economic adjustments. The system of government did not work very well and the new constitution failed to work. One of the most important events of this period is the application to the EU. If Turkey can become a member of the EU, Turkey would become more powerful economically and politically against the other countries. The constitutions of 20th century Four constitutions have been created in Turkey during the 20th century. They are the constitutions of 1921,1924,1961,1982, which have been created to solve the problems who were seen .But those constitutions did not work properly as the government could not fix the political system to the adjustments. The aim of the constitution of 1921 was to prove the existence of the new state. Therefore ,we can’t say that it is a constitution which was fully revised democratically as it didn’t contain any clauses about human rights ,it wasn’t secular. The constitution of 1924 was created after the declaration of republic having certain adjustments. Even it was a constitution, which was based on the national sovereignty, it gave superiority to the legislation and which establishes an assembly of parlement. With this national sovereignty and secular adjustments, the republic got rid of the theocratic system of the Ottoman Empire. The constitution of 1961 was a very democratic and modern constitution. In this constitution, the government was based on the parliamentary system, the functions of the legislative executive and jurist organs were regulated. Moreover, liberties of justice and press have been provided. The courts of constitution have been established to make sure that the laws are appropriate to the constitution. The constitution of 1982 had the aim to solve the political problems that were lived before, but during its preparation, the superficial approach to the problems avoided the benefit. As it allowed one political party to have the power, increased the authority of the president, restricted the human rights and freedom to avoid the anarchism, shows that this constitution wasn’t successful on the road of the democracy. The constitution of 1982 had great adjustments and continues to be changed. Sema Berk Bibliography:
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