Table Of ContentBaharBas¸erisaresearchfellowattheCentreforTrust,PeaceandSocialRelations,anassociate
research fellow at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa (SIGLA)
at Stellenbosch University, funded by the National Research Foundation. She completed
her PhD in social and political sciences at the European University Institute in Florence.
Bas¸eristheauthorofDiasporasandHomelandConflicts(2015)andco-editorofMigrationfrom
Turkey to Sweden (forthcoming, I.B.Tauris, 2017). She has various publications in peer-
reviewed academic journals, including Terrorism and Political Violence, Ethnopolitics and the
InternationalJournalofKurdishStudies.
AhmetErdiO¨ztu¨rkisaresearchassistantintheFacultyofLaw,SocialScienceandHistoryat
theUniversityofStrasbourg,wherehehasalsobeenbasedforhisdoctoralresearch.Hehas
heldaresearchfellowshipattheCentreforSoutheastEuropeanStudiesattheUniversityof
Graz.HegainedanMAfromthePoliticalScienceDepartment,HacettepeUniversityandan
MRes from the Political Science Department, Barcelona Autonoma University. O¨ztu¨rk has
recentlypublishedinSoutheastEuropeanandBlackSeaStudies(2016),theYearbookofMuslims
inEurope(2016),aswellinacademicandonlinejournals,booksandnewspapers,including
Birgu¨n,TheConversation,Hu¨rriyetDailyNews,OpenDemocracy,T24andDiken.HeistheTurkey
correspondentforEUREL(SociologicalandLegalDataonReligionsinEurope)andhasbeena
regularguestontelevisionprogrammessuchasFrance24todiscussTurkishpolitics.
“AuthoritarianPoliticsinTurkeyexaminesthetransformationofademocracy – weak,illiberal
andoverseenbystrongvetoplayers,butademocracynevertheless–intoaweakandunstable
authoritarianregime.Theauthorofthecollection’sepilogue,I˙s¸tarGo¨zaydın,wasinjailatthe
time of the final redactions. And still, the volume’s contributions allow not only for a
differentiatedreadingofthecurrentpoliticalbreakdownbutalsoforwaysofthinkingabouta
moredemocraticfuture.RisingpopulismanddemocraticbackslidinginEurope,crisesinthe
EuropeanUnionandtheunprecedentedauthoritarianturnintheUnitedStatesonlymakethe
Turkishcaseevenmoresignificant.Thisisanimportantbookatacrucialmoment.”
KeremO¨ktem,ProfessorforSoutheastEuropeanStudies
andModernTurkey,UniversityofGraz
“Afewyearsago,Turkeyseemedtobethatrarephenomenoninthe‘Muslimworld’:aMuslim-
majoritycountrymovingdecisivelyawayfromauthoritarianismtowardsdemocracy.Turkey
wasrare,astheconventionalwisdominWesternpoliticalsciencewasthat(certainkindsof)
Christianity were conducive to democratization while Islam was not. But how quickly and
apparently decisively things change. Turkey remains, officially, a democracy – indeed, the
rulingAKPpartyandespeciallythenationalpresident,RecepTayyipErdog˘an,areelectorally
popular, despite being in power for a decade-and-a-half. But things are not as rosy as this
observationmightsuperficiallysuggest.AsBas¸erandO¨ztu¨rk’sbookmakesplain,today’spath
towardsauthoritarianisminTurkeyfitswellwiththeideologicalmindsetofthegovernment
andthenationalpresident.Thisvolumeisafinecollectionofinformed,criticalanduptodate
reflectionsonTurkey’scurrentpoliticaljourney.Itshouldbereadbyallwithaninterestin
Turkey’spolitics,inordertofindouthowTurkeygottowhereitistodayandthenatureofthe
politicaljourneythecountryison.”
JeffreyHaynesProfessorofPoliticsandDirectoroftheCentrefortheStudy
ofReligion,ConflictandCooperationatLondonMetropolitanUniversity
“FewcouldhavepredictedtherapidtransformationofTurkey,acountrythathadbeenuntil
recently hailed as a model for the post-Arab Spring MiddleEast to emulate, intoa popularly
ordainedOrwelliandystopia.BringingtogethertherisingstarsofthefastgrowingfieldofTurkish
Studies, this book tries to unpack the dynamics that underpin Turkey’s ‘authoritarian slide’
withoutturningablindeyetospacesandmechanismsofresistancethathavethepotentialto
reversetheprocess.Amust-readforanyoneinterestedinwhathasbeenemphaticallycalledthe
‘New Turkey’ or, I would go so far as to say, the current global surge of populist nationalist
autocrats.”
UmutOzkirimli,CentreforMiddleEasternStudies,LundUniversity
“Soundandsolidpoliticalhistoryismostlywrittenexpostfacto,especiallywhentheaimisto
unpackwhatHannahArendtcalled‘novelformsofgovernment’inhercriticaldepictionofthe
emergenceandnatureoftotalitarianregimes.Nevertheless,thisbookcontainsacoherentset
of early and rigorous essays by a new generation of social scientists who are considering
emergingcategoriesforcomprehendingthenatureofthenewauthoritarianregimethathas
been taking shape in Turkey during the past decade. None of the analyses in this book
surrendertoeasyanswersandpopularnewconcepts.Anunrelentingandrefreshingskepticism
istheircommontrait.Theyportraysomeofthecriticalturningpointsthathaveshapedthe
contours of the new authoritarianism in Turkey that is streaked with a fascistic ‘desire.’
Theauthorsalsoshedlightontheseedsofdifferentformsofoppositionandresistanceinthe
existingstateofthe‘newnormal.’”
Ay¸seKadıog˘lu,ProfessorofPoliticalScience,SabancıUniversity,Istanbul
AUTHORITARIAN
POLITICS IN TURKEY
Elections, Resistance and the AKP
Edited by
B B
AHAR AS¸ER
&
¨
AHMET ERDI OZTU¨RK
Publishedin2017by
I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd
London•NewYork
www.ibtauris.com
CopyrightEditorialSelectionandIntroductionqBaharBas¸erandAhmetErdiO¨ztu¨rk
CopyrightIndividualChaptersqSamimAkgo¨nu¨l,KarabekirAkkoyunlu,Kivanc(cid:1)Atak,
OnurBakıner,BaharBas¸er,AnnaMariaBeyluniog˘lu,EmrahC¸elik,CumaC¸ic(cid:1)ek,
Abdu¨lkadirCivan,BezenBalamirCos¸kun,MustafaDemir,SalihDog˘an,TaptukEmreErkoc(cid:1),
I˙s¸tarGo¨yzadın,Dag˘hanIrak,AhmetErdiO¨ztu¨rkandEfeKeremSo¨zeri
TherightofBaharBas¸erandAhmetErdiO¨ztu¨rktobeidentifiedastheeditors
ofthisworkhasbeenassertedbytheeditorsinaccordancewiththeCopyright,
DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypartthereof,
maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,
inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingor
otherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
Everyattempthasbeenmadetogainpermissionfortheuseoftheimages
inthisbook.Anyomissionswillberectifiedinfutureeditions.
Referencestowebsiteswerecorrectatthetimeofwriting.
LibraryofModernTurkey29
ISBN:9781784538002
eISBN:9781786722270
ePDF:9781786732279
AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available
TypesetinStoneSerifbyOKSPrepressServices,Chennai,India
PrintedandboundbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY
TomybelovedgrandmotherHikmetBas¸er – BB
&
TomydevotedparentsNu¨khetandKemalO¨ztu¨rk – AEO¨
CONTENTS
ListofIllustrations ix
ListofContributors xii
1. InLieuofanIntroduction:IsitCurtainsforTurkishDemocracy? 1
BaharBas¸erandAhmetErdiO¨ztu¨rk
2. HowDidWeGetHere?Turkey’sSlowShifttoAuthoritarianism 21
OnurBakıner
3. ElectoralIntegrityinTurkey:FromTutelaryDemocracyto
CompetitiveAuthoritarianism 47
KarabekirAkkoyunlu
4. ElectionsandPublicFinanceinTurkey:PublicSpendingasa
TaciturnElectionCampaign? 64
TaptukEmreErkoc(cid:1) andAbdulkadirCivan
5. ForeignPolicyasaLegitimationStrategyforAKP’sHegemonic
Projectofthe“NewTurkey” 83
BezenBalamirCos¸kun,SalihDo˘ganandMustafaDemir
6. PowerandIslaminTurkey:TheRelationshipBetweentheAKP
andSunniIslamicGroups,2002–16 99
EmrahC¸elik
7. TurksasaMinority:TheEffectsofMinorityStatusinElectoral
Behaviour 120
SamimAkgo¨nu¨l
8. RecastingtheParametersofFreedomofReligioninTurkey:
Non-MuslimsandtheAKP 141
AnnaMariaBeylunio˘glu
viii AUTHORITARIAN POLITICSIN TURKEY
9. KurdsandElectionsUndertheAKParty’sRule:TheShiftingInternal
andExternalBordersoftheKurdishPoliticalRegion 157
CumaC¸ic(cid:1)ek
10. VanguardsofViolation:FreedomofAssemblyandNotesonthe
TurkishPoliticalRegime 189
Kıvanc(cid:1) Atak
11. FreedomofInformationinTurkey:TheDeathoftheFreePress
andtheCaseofAcademicsforPeace 213
EfeKeremSo¨zeri
12. DigitalCulturalCapitalasaCounter-hegemonicToolinTurkey 240
Da˘ghanIrak
13. Epilogue:TheDesireisThere 256
I˙s¸tarGo¨zaydın
Index 266
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
Figure2.1Freedomintheworld – aggregatescoresforTurkey
(2003–15). 28
Figure2.2TimelinefordemocracyandhumanrightsinTurkey
(2002–15). 30
Figure4.1Thepoliticalbusinesscycle. 68
Figure4.2AKPvotesandeconomicgrowth,2004–15. 72
Figure4.3Governmentsocialexpenditures(millionTurkishlire,
2005prices),1980–2013. 73
Figure4.4Governmenthealthexpenditures(millionTurkishlire),
1999–2014. 74
Figure4.5Numberofbedsper1,000people,1999–2014. 74
Figure4.6Shareofeducationexpendituresinpublicbudget(%),
2006–15. 75
Figure4.7Numberofeducationalinstitutions,1999–2013. 75
Figure4.8Valueoflocalpublicexpenditurebymunicipalauthority
(thousandTurkishlire,2003prices),2006–15. 76
Figure4.9Roadconstructionspending(%oftotalcapitalexpenditure),
2006–15. 77
Figure4.10OECDAgriculturalProducerSupportEstimate(PSE),
Turkey,1995–2014. 78
Figure4.11Agriculturaltransfersbygovernment
(thousandTurkishlire),2006–15. 78
