Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
The Majority Party
Justice and Development Party (AKP), parliamentary majority since 2002
Seats in National Assembly: 341 of 550
Leaders
President Abdullah Gul, (Head of State, elected by Turkish National Assembly): As president, Gul is the commander in chief of the Turkish military, has veto power over legislation, and wide appointive powers . He made his first bid for the presidency in April 2007, but was opposed by the military and secular elites, who voiced concerns that an observant Muslim president could pose a threat to Turkey’s secularist traditions. The high court ruled Gul’s election unconstitutional because too few legislators cast ballots, forcing Prime Minister Erdogan to call for early national elections in July 2007. The Islamic-inspired AKP won a landslide victory, and parliament subsequently selected Gul as president in August.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Erdogan is the charismatic leader of the AKP, but he was initially unable to assume the premiership when the party won a parliamentary majority in 2002. In 1998, Erdogan had been removed from office and served four months in jail for reciting a poem with Islamic overtones at a rally, and his conviction banned him from holding further public office until parliament amended the constitution in 2002. Prior to his removal, Erdogan was a popular mayor of Istanbul, known for his transparency.
Minority Parties
Republican People’s Party (CHP): Led by Deniz Baykal and holding 98 seats in the National Assembly, the CHP is the largest opposition bloc. CHP is a secularist, center-left party, founded by Mustafa Kemal (“Ataturk”) in the early 1920s. It opposed Abdullah Gul’s presidential candidacy, claiming that AKP leadership would undermine secularism. The CHP’s boycott of Gul’s April 2007 presidential bid prevented a quorum, blocking his initial election.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP): The MHP is a highly-nationalistic party, returning to parliament after a five-year hiatus. The CHP is skeptical of reforms sought by the EU, and is expected to push for army action against Kurdish rebels in Iraq. In July’s elections it won 71 seats in the National Assembly, making it the third largest party. Its participation in the August presidential vote assured that a CHP boycott would not again halt Abdullah Gul’s election bid.
Independents
40 members of the National Assembly hold seats as independents. These include members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (20 seats) and the Democratic Left Party (13 seats).
The Military
The Turkish military has played an important role in domestic politics since the founding of the modern republic by military officer Mustafa Kemal in 1923. Military leaders consider themselves active defenders of Kemal’s secularist legacy, and have ousted four civilian governments in military coups since 1960, most recently in 1997. The military formed an important component of the secularist opposition to Abdullah Gul’s first election bid, threatening direct intervention during the April political crisis. Military leaders did not stop Gul’s election in August, however they did not attend his swearing-in ceremony and have warned the AKP to uphold secular values as they write new constitutional reforms. The military is in favor of an incursion into Iraq to stop cross-border strikes by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group. The civilian leadership has recently joined with the army in agreeing to strengthen Turkish response to the PKK.
MEB did not fully acknowledge the extent to which Wednesday’s background basics was primarily sourced from Peace Now’s Settlements in Focus. We apologize for this omission.
