Despite being democratically elected, Turkey's ruling AKP party moved towards increasingly authoritarian measures in the years that followed. After the coup attempt in July 2016, the AKP government declared a state of emergency which President Erdo?an saw as an opportunity to purge the public sector of pro-Gülenist individuals and criminalise opposition groups including Kurdish separatists, Alevites, leftists and liberals. The country experienced political turmoil and rapid transformation, and debates around constitutional amendments began that would change the regime to a "Turkish style" presidential system. This book identifies the process of democratic reversal in Turkey. In particular, contributors explore the various ways that a democratically elected political party used elections to implement authoritarian measures. They scrutinise the very concepts of democracy, elections and autocracy to expose their flaws which can be manipulated to advantage. The book includes chapters discussing the roots of authoritarianism in Turkey; the political economy of elections; the relationship between the political Islamic groups and the government; Turkish foreign policy; non-Muslim communities' attitudes towards the AKP; and Kurdish citizens' voting patterns. As well as following Turkey's political trajectory, this book contextualises Turkey in the wider literature on electoral and competitive authoritarianisms and explores the country's future options.
Inhalt
Turkey in the Twenty-First Century: Bourgeois Revolution, Winners, and Losers
Hakan Y?lmaz
In Lieu of an Introduction: Is it Curtains for Turkish Democracy?
Bahar Ba?er and Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
2. How Did We Get Here? Turkey's Slow Shift to Authoritarianism
Onur Bak?ner
3. Electoral Integrity in Turkey: From Tutelary Democracy to Competitive Authoritarianism
Karabekir Akkoyunlu
4. Elections and Public Finance in Turkey: Public Spending as a Taciturn Election Campaign?
Taptuk Emre Erkoç and Abdulkadir Civan
5. Foreign Policy as a Legitimation Strategy for AKP's Hegemonic Project of "New Turkey"
Bezen Balamir Co?kun, Salih Do?an and Mustafa Demir
6. Power and Islam in Turkey: The relationship between the AKP and Sunni Islamic groups, 2002-2016
Emrah Çelik
7. Turks as a minority: Effects of minority situation in electoral behaviour
Samim Akgönül
8. Recasting the Parameters of Freedom of Religion in Turkey: Non-Muslims and the AKP
Anna Maria Beylunio?lu
9. Kurds and Elections Under the AK Party's Rule: Changing Internal and External Borders of the Kurdish Political Region
Cuma Çiçek
10. Vanguards of violation: freedom of assembly and notes on the Turkish political regime
K?vanç Atak
11. Freedom of Information in Turkey: Death of the Free Press and the Case of Academics for Peace
Efe Kerem Sözeri
12. Digital cultural capital as a counter-hegemonic tool in Turkey
Da?han Irak
13. Epilogue: The Desire is There
??tar Gözayd?n