Republican People's Party

This chapter examines how a project for artists patronized by the ruling party came to be in line with the discourses of humanism and classicism during the Second World War in Turkey. In 1938, Hasan-Âli Yücel implemented a cultural policy entitled “Turkish humanism”. By conceptualizing Turkish humanism as nationalism taken to a universal level, Yücel aspired to bring nationalism and Westernist ideals together. Humanism was thus seen as key to Westernization. In the same period, the Republican People’s Party initiated and sponsored the “Painters’ Homeland Tours” project (1938–1946). Initially a result of populist, nationalist and patronizing state policy, these tours were also in line with Turkey’s international politics.

In the Ottoman State, the Muslim public’s first acquaintance with
the election took place in 1840 through the Councils of Taxation,
which were formed in the sanjaks. The Ottoman public, which voted
in the general elections for the first time –required by the 1876
Constitution-, realized this right to elect and be elected in appropriate
with the regulations in the Elections of 1908. The two-stage election
system of the Ottoman period, in which only the male population
held right to elect and be elected, had been implemented in the
Turkish Republic for long years. In almost all elections during the
Republican Period, different method was implemented, initially the
age of right to be elected was declined to 18, and later on it was increased
to 22 –with female population’s recognition of right to elect
and to be elected. So as to allow different views in the general elections
leading up to the 1946 Elections, in which only one party participated,
different practices were implemented. In certain places,
not presenting the Republican People’s Party as candidate, forming
an independent group within the party, presenting also the minorities
as candidate, were some of these practices. By the 1946 Elections,
one-stage election system was put into practice, and for the first time
multi-party system begun, whereby in accordance with the election
regulations, open voting and secret census was implemented.
Voting by ballot, elections’ supervision by adjudication and carrying
on one-level election system, were part of the system that was implemented
by the 1950 Election. In this election, the political power
passed from the Republican People’s Party to the Democratic Party.
In this study, the elections in the Ottoman period and the election
system have been depicted and the elections –including the 1950
Elections- as well as the election system that were practiced in the
Turkish Republic, have been dwelled on.
Key Words: Election, Member of the Grand National Assembly,
Republican People’s Party, Democrat Party.

Osmanlı Devleti’nde Müslüman halkın seçimle ilk tanışması 1840
yılında sancaklarda kurulan Muhassıllık Meclisleri ile olmuştur.
1876 Anayasası gereği ilk defa genel seçimlere katılan Osmanlı toplumu
bu seçme ve seçilme hakkını kurallara uygun olarak 1908 seçimlerinde
yapmıştır. İki dereceli olarak yapılan ve sadece erkeklerin
seçme ve seçilme hakkına sahip olduğu Osmanlı dönemi seçim
sistemi Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde de uzun yıllar uygulanmıştır. Cumhuriyet
döneminde neredeyse her seçimde ayrı bir yöntem kullanılmış,
seçim yaşı önce 18’e indirilmiş, sonra kadınlara da seçme ve seçilme
hakkı tanınmasıyla 22’ye çıkartılmıştır. 1946 seçimlerine kadar
tek partinin katıldığı genel seçimlerde değişik seslere yer vermek
amacıyla farklı uygulamalara gidilmiştir. Belli yörelerde Cumhuriyet
Halk Partisi’nin aday göstermemesi, parti içinden müstakil grup
kurulması, azınlıkların da aday gösterilip seçilmesi bu tür uygulamalardan
bazılarıdır.
1946 seçimleri ile tek dereceli seçim sistemine geçilmiş, ilk defa
çok partili hayatın başladığı bu seçimlerde seçim kanunu gereği açık
oy gizli sayım yapılmıştır. Gizli oy açık sayım, seçimlerin yargı denetiminde
olması, tek dereceli seçime devam edilmesi 1950 seçimleriyle
uygulanan bir sistemdir. Bu seçimlerde Türkiye’de iktidar
CHP’den Demokrat Partiye geçmiştir. Bu çalışmada Osmanlı dönemi
seçimleri ve seçim sistemi hakkında bilgi verilmiş, 1950 seçimleri
de dahil olmak üzere Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde yapılan seçimler
ve seçim sistemleri üzerinde durulmuştur.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Seçim, Meclis-i Mebusan, Milletvekili,
Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Demokrat Parti.

From the late 18th century onward, the twin revolutions of industrialization and nationalism posed existential threats to multireligious, multiethnic, multicultural territorial empires like those of the Hapsburgs and the Ottomans. During this period, the imperial ruling elite responded to these new challenges using various ideological interventions. In the Ottoman Empire, these were, respectively, Ottomanism, Islamism, and Turkism. Kemalism is the offspring of this turbulent process, borne out of the rise and fall of these three ideologies and the experience of a decade of war and destruction between 1912 and 1922. It emerged as the ideology of revolutionary Westernization from above, conceived and carried out by the modernized intelligentsia of a largely premodern society.

Edebiyatçı, tarihçi ve mütefekkir kimliğiyle ön plana çıkan M. Fuad Köprülü, aynı zamanda
bir siyaset adamıdır. İlk kez 1935’te CHP Kars milletvekili seçilen M. Fuad Köprülü,
1945’te Demokrat Parti’nin kurucuları arasında yer almış, 1950-1956 döneminde Dışişleri
Bakanı, Devlet Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı olarak görev yapmıştır. 1957’de Demokrat
Parti’den istifa etmiş, bir daha milletvekili olamasa da aktif siyasetten kopmamıştır. Önce
Hürriyet Partisi’ni sonra da Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’ni desteklemiştir. 27 Mayıs 1960’da
ordunun yönetime el koymasından sonra 6-7 Eylül Olayları sebebiyle Yassıada’da yargılanmış
ve beraat etmiştir. 1961’de Yeni Demokrat Parti’yi kurmuş, ancak umduğu başarıyı
elde edemediği için 1965’te fiilen siyasetten çekilmek durumunda kalmıştır. Bu makalede M.
Fuad Köprülü’nün Demokrat Parti’den ayrılması, Demokrat Parti’ye karşı muhalefeti desteklemesi,
Yassıada’da yargılanması, Yeni Demokrat Parti’yi kurması ve sonrasındaki siyasi
mücadelesi arşiv belgeleri, dönemin gazeteleri ve diğer kaynaklar ışığında değerlendirilmiştir.
M. Fuad Köprülü who is known with his historian, thinker and the man of letters identity, is
also a politician. He, who was the first Kars Parliamentarian of Republican People’s Party
in 1935, was among the founders of Democratic Party in 1945. He served as a Minister of
Foreign Affairs, minister of state and deputy prime minister between 1950-1956. He resigned
from the Democratic Party in 1957, and couldn’t be a politician again, but he was still
interested in active politics. He firstly supported The Freedom Party and then the Republican
People’s Party. After the army’s confiscating to government on 27th May 1960, due to the
events of 6th-7th September, he stood trial in Yassıada and was acquitted. He founded The
New Democratic Party in 1961, but because of the fact that he couldn’t get the success he had
expected, he had to withdraw from the active politics. In this article, M. Fuad Köprülü’s leaving
the Democratic Party, his supporting the opposition party, his standing trial in Yassıada,
foundation of the New Democratic Party and the political struggling after it, will be evaluated
in the light of archival documents, newspapers of that period and other sources.

The issue of Turkey's membership to the European Union has been a controversial issue for years. There are various views on this
old issue, which date back to the 1963 Ankara Agreement. The party that supports Turkey's membership to the European Union and
even became the major partner of the government at the time the Ankara Agreement was signed is also the founding party of the
Republic of Turkey, the Republican People's Party. The Republican People's Party identified Turkey's membership in the European
Union with Atatürk's goal of contemporary civilizations. However, in line with this goal, the party followed a policy that looked after
the national interests. Even the Republican People's Party has taken a critical attitude towards the EU from time to time. Although the
party's point of view towards the EU was shaped according to the conjuncture of the period, it basically had the same manner. Within
the framework of the changing comments of the party leaders, the Republican People's Party has kept the issue of full membership to
the EU as a hot agenda, which has always been the main target in foreign policy.

Özet:

Türk Siyasi Tarihi’nde önemli ve uzun yerlerden birine sahip olan Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP)’nin 1965 Genel Seçimleri’ne çok az bir süre kala kendini resmen ortanın solunda bir parti olarak tanımlaması, CHP’nin merkez sol siyasete geçişinin ilk kıvılcımı olmuştur. Bu aynı zamanda, Türk Siyasi Tarihi’nde bu denli büyük ve köklü bir partinin kendini ilk defa sol siyasette gösterişidir. 1965 Genel Seçimleri’nden çok kısa bir süre önce ortaya konulan bu söylemin temelleri, birikimleri, ideolojik yansımaları 2–3 aylık süreçte parti içi ve dışı birçok tartışmaya sebep olsa da; söylem, partinin bu sürece kadarki demokratik gelişiminin ve dönemin etkilerinin de kaçınılmaz bir sonucu olarak görülebilir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, 1965 Genel Seçimleri’ne gelinen süreçte, CHP’de ortanın solu söyleminin ortaya çıkışındaki tarihsel arka planı sunabilmek, söylemin temellerini ve nedenlerini sunabilmektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Ortanın Solu, İsmet İnönü, 1965 Genel Seçimleri

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Abstract:

The official declaration of Republican People’s Party (RPP) –which has important and long place in the Turkish History– as left of center just before the General Elections of 1965, was the beginning of RPP’s center left politics. This was also the first time that a major party in Turkey, representing itself as left wing. Although the discourse which was said before elections, caused many discussions about basis, cumulations, ideology in both inside of the party and outside of the party for about 2-3 months; can also seem as party’s democratic improvement and also 1960’s period inevitable result. The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons, historical background and introduce basis of left of center discourse which was used before General Elections of 1965.

Key Words: Republican People’s Party, Left of Center, İsmet Inönü, General Elections of 1965

This article focuses on the concept and phenomenon of justice that is transformed an instrument and founded by politics. Although the justice is a political ideal, legal phenomenon and moral virtue, it was initially moral virtue at least in texts before modern ideologies. In this respect, the idea and virtue of justice is exposed to semantic shift and value from traditional meaning. There are some reasons for this transformation. There is a prominent reason for this transformation that justice is an instrument for other states. In the modern times, justice is not moral idea and virtue for the politics, however, it is founded and instrumentalized by new politics. The politics is named as industrial politics. In this article, the ideal justice perspective and its manifestations are evaluated. It has been used some current events such as Justice Marching guided by Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Turkey. Other sample is Fettushism (the ideology of FETO) argued in this paper. In the context the following topics are respectively discussed: First one is explained differences between political philosophy and political ideology. Second one is determined the place of state as a modern political institution. Third one is submitted a general framework for “justice marching”. Then, forth one is evaluated the question what justice is. Finally, justice and “justice marching” is discussed relations with ideology.

in: USAK YEARBOOK, Vol:4, Year:2011, pp.109-157.

1950s period is significant to understand the change in Turkish foreign policy. Contrary to the existing literature, the deviation from Kemalist foreign policy understanding in the DP era is certain. The change was dramatic. Apart from the ideological shift, the international developments also forced the Turks to change their policies towards the world politics. The study focuses on the causes of the change in foreign policy. Laçiner further analysis how the ideological considerations and external circumstances affected decision-makers and policies.