Abstract
The central cleavage of Turkish politics has created a fertile ground for certain parties to adopt a populist strategy since the first free and fair elections in 1950. In contemporary Turkish politics, the leadership of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) harbors the core characteristics of doing politics on a populist platform. We back up this claim by highlighting the political discourse of AKP’s long-time leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who extols populist principles, and by describing the institutional changes brought upon to concentrate power in the hands of the executive branch. We also examine the prevalence and correlates of populist attitudes in the Turkish population by drawing on an original, nationally representative survey. We find that populist attitudes are quite prevalent in the Turkish electorate, and support for populism is significantly and positively related to being a partisan of the incumbent AKP. Rather than discontent, the fact that the AKP, a party with a populist agenda, has long been in power seems to be the key driver of mass populist attitudes in Turkey where supporters of this party have internalized the core premises of populism to a significant extent.
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Notes
- 1.
We heavily draw on Aytaç and Öniş (2014) for this analysis.
- 2.
We should again emphasize that this characterization of the dominance of the center does not apply in the aftermath of AKP’s consolidation of power, which roughly corresponds to the post-2011 period.
- 3.
- 4.
MSP was the successor of the short-lived National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi, MNP) that was closed down in 1971 by the Constitutional Court.
- 5.
Milli Görüş movement is associated with a series of political parties that succeeded each other as they have been repeatedly banned by the Constitutional Court. These parties were the MNP, MSP, Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, RP), Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi, FP), and Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi, SP). Only the SP is still functioning.
- 6.
One question at this point might be whether the HDP could be considered a (left-wing) populist party as well. Adopting a radical democratic ideology and being a staunch supporter of minority rights, the HDP also employs antiestablishment appeals with a heavy emphasis on “the people” (Tekdemir 2016). However, the HDP does not favor plebiscitarian linkages between the people and rulers but advocates a bottom-up movement with expansive participatory mechanisms in decision-making. Therefore, in line with Barr’s (2009) emphasis on preferences for plebiscitarian linkages being a key component of populism, we do not consider the HDP as a populist party. Yet we recognize that this is a contentious issue.
- 7.
- 8.
Quoted in Yağcı (2009, p. 116).
- 9.
The controversial verses read: “the mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the believers our soldiers.”
- 10.
Quoted in Dinçşahin (2012, p. 634).
- 11.
Quoted in Yağcı (2009, p. 135).
- 12.
Quoted in Yağcı (2009, p. 133).
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/turkey-erdogan-corruption-foreign-plot-offense-charges.html. See Aytaç et al. (2017) for an overview of Turkish government’s response to Gezi protests.
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
The survey is part of a larger project conducted by S. Erdem Aytaç, Ali Çarkoğlu, and Sedef Turper from Koç University. The interviews were conducted by Frekans Research (www.frekans.com.tr) between February 17 and April 2 of 2017. The Open Society Foundation-Turkey and Koç University provided funding for the study.
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Aytaç, S.E., Elçi, E. (2019). Populism in Turkey. In: Stockemer, D. (eds) Populism Around the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96758-5_6
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