Turkey

THE TURKISH LEFT HAS been represented by the center-left or social democrat parties in Turkey's mainstream politics. In the parliament there is one center-left party, the RPP (Republican People's Party) of Deniz Baykal that became the second party in the 2002 elections with 170 seats. From 1950 to 1980, the Turkish center-left was only represented by the RPP with a synthesis between statist-centralist perspective and social democrat policies. When the center right Democrat Party won the 1950 elections, the RPP remained as the main opposition party until 1960. The RPP during that time tried to change its authoritarian party image and to reinterpret the principles of Kemalism (Turkey's state ideology) on the basis of social policies. But it maintained its connection with bureaucracy and the military. Except short-lived coalition governments it had remained in opposition until 1980.

The 1980 military intervention resulted in the polarization in left politics when it banned the RPP. In the 1983 elections, the Populist Party (PP) represented the center-left and won 30 percent of the votes. Later it merged with the Social Democrat Party (founded by former members of the RPP and headed by Erdal Inonu, the son of former RPP leader Ismet Inonu), becoming the Social Democrat Populist Party (SDPP). Bulent Ecevit, banned former leader of the 1970s RPP, returned to politics by the 1987 referendum and became the chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DLP). The SDPP (joined to with the RPP in the mid-1990s) and the DLP were the two main center-left parties of the 1990s. Thanks to its nationalist discourse in the face of the rising Kurdish separatist threat, the DLP became the leading party in the 1999 elections and became the leading partner in the DLP-led coalition government that remained in power until 2002. In the 2002 elections, its vote dramatically declined from 22 percent to 1.5 percent. This time the RPP became the representative of left politics with 19 percent of the vote.

There was not a considerable ideological difference between the SDPP-RPP and the DLP. However, the DLP leadership does not emphasize its connection with the pre-1980 RPP, although the RPP leaders stress the importance of the legacy of the old RPP for its survival. The other difference between them is that the DLP emphasizes nationalist and local values more than the RPP. Although among leaders of the two parties in the 1990s there was a belief in the necessity of a state role in the economy, throughout recent years both have seemed to move closer to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's understanding of the Third Wave. Less state intervention, private enterprises, joining the international market, individual rights, and so on are becoming the basic mottos of center-left politics in Turkey. Today's RPP is one of the passionate supporters for Turkey's joining the European Union and liberal social democracy. Never-theless, the statist and bureaucratic values of the center are still dominant among the leaders of the RPP. It is very obvious in their attitude to the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) that represents a wide coalition of various segments, especially conservative ones, of the society that have been excluded from power. This [Page 459]seems to prevent the RPP from establishing healthy relations and alliances with the country's different social and cultural groups.

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