Political Fever in Turkey
STEVENS, EDMUND
Political Fever in Turkey By Edmund Stevens Rivalry between the two major parties has been strong since the Government seized the opposition's property, but both face the threat of renascent...
...The action has widened the rift between Turkey's two main parties??the opposition Republican People's party and the governing Democratic party, which rammed the bill through the legislature...
...Thus heartened, reactionary elements for the first time in two decades ventured into the open...
...The authorities also found a proscription list headed by Yalman's name, which included the names of other editors and leading figures in both parties...
...But the Turkish Republican party corresponds to the American Democrats, and vice versa...
...As in America, there are disagreements on home issues...
...The main danger to the modern Turkish state does not come from any likelihood of an actual reversion to Koranic law and the old ways of life...
...In that year, Turkey's first free election awarded a surprise victory to the newly-hatched Democratic party...
...He lost the election...
...Immediately thereafter, Premiar Adnan Menderes dismissed his Vice Premier, Samet Agaoglu, chief proponent of a "soft" policy toward reaction, and a court order was issued dissolving the National party...
...Communist agents have proved skilful in infiltrating reactionary circles and organizations...
...The attempt on Yalman was traced to the Moslem Brotherhood...
...As such, they are pledged to continue his work of modernization...
...As in Iran, they are quite prepared to lend support and assistance to all enemies of the regime from any quarter whatever, including the most fanatical Moslem reactionaries...
...The Republican deputies, who declared the bill illegal, walked out before the vote...
...There were even isolated instances when statues of Ataturk were demolished...
...And though efforts at Communist infiltration have so far failed, the Soviets are not likely to give up trying...
...The hotter partisan rivalry waxes, the greater the temptation to employ demagogy and to pander to the passions and prejudices of backward elements...
...Though no sizable underground Communist party exists...
...There is almost nothing that the Kremlin would not do, or give, to undermine the present strong pro-Western regime in Turkey...
...This lack of a judicial check on the executive and legislative branches could, unless corrected, endanger the growth of Turkish democracy...
...There have been instances of this in by-elections...
...But this element, though growing, is still the minority in a country in which more than 80 per cent of the people live in small villages where the mullahs and sheikhs still wield considerable influence...
...Both favor close alliance with the West and oppose Soviet expansion...
...In the midst of it all, a third party, the so-called National party, made its appearance and tried to collect all discontented and subversive elements of every hue, both right and left, in one basket...
...Though the Republicans claim the present seizure is a flagrant abuse of Government power for strictly partisan purposes, there is little they can do about it but work to recapture power in the spring election ??a rather remote possibility...
...The Government had turned over management of many undertakings, along with funds and properties involved, to the party...
...During the period of one-party rule, the Republican party and Government were so closely intertwined that it was impossible to draw any sharp line of demarcation or to keep separate inventories of their holdings...
...There are striking similarities between the Turkish and American party systems...
...The Democrats contended that the Republican party properties had been illegally acquired with the use of Government funds...
...In vying for the popular vote, both parties must reckon with this fact...
...As in America, both major parties are in basic agreement on foreign policy, the continuity of which was not affected by the transfer of power...
...Political Fever in Turkey By Edmund Stevens Rivalry between the two major parties has been strong since the Government seized the opposition's property, but both face the threat of renascent Moslem reaction Ankara Even though Turkey's national elections are not till next spring, confiscation of the property of the Republican People's party has raised pre-election excitement to fever pitch...
...The Turkish Constitution, though in many ways most enlightened, does not provide for effective channels of legal appeal against acts and decisions which have the full backing of the Assembly and the Cabinet...
...On the contrary, they are sure to redouble their efforts as time goes on...
...The chief threat derives from Turkey's exposed position on the southern flank of the Soviet Union...
...By the same token, the appeal of both parties is primarily addressed to the same enlightened pro-Western element...
...The Turkish Republicans, like the American Democrats, are more favorable to the concepts and practices of the welfare state...
...Before the ink was dry on President Celal Bayar's signature, the Republicans moved from their national headquarters in Ankara and the printing plant of their newspaper Ukis into temporary rented quarters...
...Apart from these differences, the two main Turkish parties, like the two main American parties, are committed to uphold the same institutions and way of life...
...Similar shifts occurred at party branches throughout the country...
...Both parties claim to follow in the footsteps of Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey...
...And then something happened which abruptly ended the Government's tolerant attitude...
...Hence the importance of keeping the rivalries and animosities within the enlightened pro-Western camps to an absolute minimum...
...In one contest, the photograph of one candidate, shown in his commencement robes from American-operated Robert College in Istanbul, was circulated by his opponents with the caption that this proved he was a Christian priest...
...In both countries, the party now in power recently ousted those who had controlled the Government for more than two decades...
...In the 1950 elections, the Democrats promised to reintroduce Moslem religious instruction in the public schools, and have actually carried this out so far as primary schools are concerned...
...This was notably the case with the "People's Houses," cultural centers with reading rooms and recreation facilities established throughout the country by Government order...
...Here and there, local fanatics denounced Westernization and all its works and called for a return to the old Koranic traditions...
...Moreover, the basic step which transformed Turkey from an enlightened autoritarian state into a democracy—the granting of universal suffrage—has placed an important new weapon in the hands of these backward elements —the ballot...
...Late one night in November 1952 in Malatya in Eastern Anatolia, an attempt was made to assassinate Ahmet Emin Yal-man, editor of the pro-Government liberal daily Vatan...
...The Turkish Democrats, like the American Republicans (in theory at least), are strong advocates of laissez-faire...
...a network of terrorists spread throughout the Middle East...
...Last month, the Grand National Assembly, Turkey's one-chamber parliament, passed a bill calling for seizure of "illegally acquired properties" from the Republican party...
...The Republicans were undisputed masters of Turkey for a quarter of a century that ended in 1950...
Vol. 37 • January 1954 • No. 2
