Global Journal of Human Social Science, F: Political Science, Volume 22 Issue 5

The Unity of the Six Opposition Parties in Turkey, the Analysis of their Consensus, and it’s Meaning in Terms of Democracy Abdullah Murat Tuncer Abstract - Mainly since 2010, to prevent the erosion of Turkish democracy, six opposition parties allied and started joint work. This alliance has importance for the history of democracy in Turkey. In their second meeting, the leaders of the "Nation Alliance" parties, which published a consensus text in their first meeting, published the features they would look for in the candidate they wanted to nominate in 2023. The opposition alliance, known to have issues on which they disagree, and problems they agree, do not cover all opposition parties. The People's Democracy Party (HDP), the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP), and the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) are looking for another alliance that unites socialist ideas. However, the socialist coalition also stated they could support the candidate against the ruling party in 2023. I want to analyze a critical analysis of the Nation Alliance, which is vital for democracy. Keywords: turkish democracy, opposition parties, partnership for democracy, consensus for democracy, opposition parties alliance. I. I ntroduction urkey has transitioned from democracy to anocracy (Tuncer 2022, DOI: 10.21275/SR222052 23430). Six opposition parties came together and allied to correct the trend and protect democracy in the upcoming 2023 Presidential and Parliamentary elections to prevent this change. The ruling party, Justice and Development Party AKP and Nationalist Movement Party MHP, allied, called the People's Alliance, and passed every law they wanted through the parliament. Among the agenda topics of the “Six-Party Table” were the proposal to amend the Election Law, the roadmap of the Strengthened Parliamentary System, the restriction of presidential powers after the transition to the parliamentary system, the determination of basic principles in the areas of possible cooperation, the principles and values regarding a possible alliance. II. B rief H istory of D emocracy in T urkey The first step in modern Turkey was taken by establishing the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) on April 23, 1920. Then the Republic was established on October 29, 1923, by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In the following periods, a single-party period was experienced until 1946, when multi-party elections were held for the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic (but open vote closed count). The first genuinely democratic election (closed voting, available count) occurred in 1950 (Çimen 2019). The first of the military initiatives that caused a break in democracy was on May 27, 1960. Then, on September 12, 1980, a military coup was carried out. Apart from these coups, the army intervened in politics on 12 March 1971, 27 December 1979, 28 February 1997, and 27 April 2007. There were also failed military coup attempts on October 21, 1961, February 22, 1962, May 20, 1969, March 9, 1971, and July 15, 2016. The Jacobin secular vision of social and political order was the most crucial reason for military interventions (Heper 2016, Heper 2008). Turkey's political system was based on separating the powers, legislature, executive, and judiciary. But It is difficult to talk about real democracy except for the first periods of the Democratic Party until 1954, the first periods of Turgut Özal (between 1984- 1989) and the first years when the 1960 Constitution was implemented, and finally, the 2002-2010 period of Justice and Development Party (AKP). Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ruled Turkey since 2002. After some reforms, the AKP government showed growing contempt for political rights and civil liberties. Its authoritarian nature was fully consolidated following a 2016 coup attempt that triggered a dramatic crackdown on perceived leadership opponents. Constitutional changes adopted in 2017 concentrated power in the hands of the President. As a result of the negativities experienced and the changes in the system, according to the 2021 Freedom House report, Turkey's new category is "not freedom.” The depoliticized way of regulating money, micro, and macroeconomic management was studied in parallel with introducing dependent financialization as the predominant capital accumulation regime until 2013. Since 2013, the governments have struggled with the combination crisis of authority and the state, leading to two changes: the mode of regulation has been re- T © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue V Version I 21 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 F Author: Ph.D. Student. Department of Political Science, Conley American University. e-mail: muratatuncer@gmail.com