Adnan Menderes, Turkish prime minister, 1960.Wikicommons. Public domain.Turkey heads to the polls on Sunday. The outcome will decide the future of Turkish politics for years to come. These elections, despite some voting irregularities, will be generally free and fair. Nevertheless those who follow developments in Turkey would have noticed declining democratic capital in the country once hailed as a democratic model (or example) for the Middle East to follow. Nowadays very few people make such claims. If anything, Turkey is noted for its lack of democratic rights, especially those pertaining to the freedoms of expression and assembly since the Gezi Park protest almost exactly two years ago.
This of course begs the question, why is there a democratic deficit in Turkey? In answering this question three interconnected factors can be identified. They are 1) the legacy of an authoritarian style of leadership and, relatedly, an elite conception of what constitutes good citizenship, 2) the legacy of the military's involvement in politics, 3) the political system as a battleground for Turkey's social-cultural divisions in their struggle to define Turkish identity. These factors together explain many of Turkey’s democratic difficulties.
An authoritarian conception of citizenship
Turkey has a legacy of leaders with autocratic tendencies. Its first leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was a reformer, a visionary and a state builder; however, no democrat. He tried and failed to produce a two party system. Instead he ruled a one party state. Kemal Ataturk was the first of many political figures in a country where personalities have carried more weight than political programmes or policies. The list includes, but is not limited to, Ismet Inonu, Adnan Menderes, Bulent Ecevit, Turgut Ozal, Suleyman Demirel and Tansu Ciller. Turkey's current president Tayyip Erdogan who hailed from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is only the latest example.
