Turkey

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Country between the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, bounded to the east by Armenia, Georgia, and Iran, to the southeast by Iraq and Syria, to the west by Greece and the Aegean Sea, and to the northwest by Bulgaria.

Government
The constitution of 1982 provides for a single-chamber, 550-member national assembly, elected by a system of proportional representation for a five-year term, and an executive president, elected by the assembly for a seven-year term. The president appoints a prime minister who works with the president in a somewhat diluted version of the French ‘dual executive’. The president is obliged to work in conjunction with the prime minister.

The establishment of the republic
In July 1922 Rauf Bey, who with Kemal Atatürk had been mainly instrumental in launching the Nationalist revolution, became prime minister. On 1 November 1922 the sultanate was abolished. The National Assembly then elected the cousin of the deposed sultan, Abdul Mejid Effendi, to be caliph, the ‘Commander of the Faithful’, but with no secular powers. This ‘spiritual’ caliphate was finally abolished in 1924, and the Muslim religion was disestablished in 1928. Meanwhile, on 2 October 1923, the foreign occupation of Constantinople (now Istanbul) terminated, and on 29 October Turkey was declared a republic with Atatürk as president.

The republic took the form of a powerful oligarchy led by a dictator and depending on press censorship. The westernization of Turkey was forcibly and rigorously carried through, and a new legal code introduced. Once the work of westernizing Turkey was more or less completed, Atatürk, now known as the ‘Ghazi’ (conqueror), relaxed his methods of dictatorial reform, although his position always remained unassailable. In the new economic system the state reserved the right to plan the general economic course and, while allowing private enterprise, owned the leading industries and supervised and coordinated the activities of private concerns.

Atatürk's foreign relations
Atatürk largely restricted the new Turkish state to the area actually inhabited by Turks, although it also included some of the Kurdish lands in the east. The Kurdish rebellion in 1925 aggravated the question of the Turkish–Iraqi boundary in the area of Mosul. Eventually, on 6 June 1926, almost the whole area was given by treaty to Iraq. Relations with Iran were also stabilized.

In 1934 Turkey joined in a regional pact with Greece, Yugoslavia, and Romania, each country guaranteeing each other's frontiers, and in the same year, by the Pact of Saadabad, Turkey strengthened its political cooperation with Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Following the restoration of Turkish sovereignty over the Dardanelles in 1936 and the cession of Alexandretta (now Iskenderun) by Syria to Turkey in 1939, Turkish relations with the Western democracies became closer. An Anglo-French guarantee against aggression was given to Turkey in May 1939, and this was followed on 19 October by an Anglo-French–Turkish pact of assistance, effective for 15 years.

Turkey in World War II
Atatürk's death in 1938 was a major shock to the republic. But the regime of his Republican People's Party, now under President Ismet Inönü, was sufficiently sturdy to survive.

In World War II Turkey's position became difficult following the German successes in the Balkans in 1941, and Turkey found a semicircle of Axis forces round its western borders. Turkey came under great pressure from Germany, and in June 1941 the Turkish government had little option but to sign a ‘Treaty of Friendship’ with Germany. However, the situation changed with the victories won by the Allies in 1942–43 at El Alamein and Stalingrad, and eventually, in February 1945, the Turkish parliament decided to declare war on Germany and Japan.

Turkey joins the Western alliance
In 1945 the USSR denounced the treaty of friendship that it had made with Turkey in 1925, and in the following year made a demand for a revision of the 1936 Montreux convention by which Turkey had gained the right to remilitarize the Straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. This marked the end of a distinct phase in Turkish–Soviet relations: following the revolutions in both countries friendly relations had been established in the 1920s, accompanied by economic cooperation, but after World War II this gave way once more to the traditional grouping of Turkey in the Western European sphere of influence.

The USA recognized the important position that Turkey held as a barrier against the spread of communism into the Middle East and Asia, and made substantial loans in order that Turkey could utilize to the full its economic resources and strengthen its defences. In 1950 Turkey dispatched troops to form part of the US-led UN forces in the Korean War, and in 1952 it became a member of NATO.

In 1953 Turkey signed a treaty of friendship with Greece and Yugoslavia (the latter having split from the Soviet bloc). Turkey's treaty in 1954 with Pakistan was the foundation stone of the subsequent Baghdad Pact (1955), which later became the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). During the Suez Crisis of 1957 Turkey remained on good terms with both Britain and France.

The Menderes era, 1950–60
Until 1945 the Republican People's Party tolerated virtually no opposition parties; but after that date genuine opposition parties were allowed to be formed and greater democratic liberties permitted. In Turkey's first free elections in 1950 the leading opposition party, the Democratic Party, gained power under Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes. Bayar became president, and Menderes prime minister. In the elections of 1954 the Democratic Party virtually obliterated all the other opposition parties. Turkey's foreign policy, based on cooperation with Western Europe, remained unchanged, but as time passed the Menderes regime appeared increasingly reactionary and intolerant in home affairs, particularly towards other parties.

From 1953 onwards Greek–Turkish relations suffered a steady deterioration, owing to their very different approaches to the Cyprus question. Relations reached a low point in 1955, when serious anti-Greek rioting broke out in Turkey, causing substantial damage and loss of life. The 1959 London and Zürich agreements between Greece, Turkey, and Britain, which set up an independent Cyprus with guarantees for the Turkish minority there, led to a marked improvement in Greek–Turkish relations for a time.

In 1957 the Democratic Party was again returned to power, but with a reduced majority. Discontent was, however, growing among the army and the intellectuals, who saw Atatürk's Turkey threatened by Menderes's economic incompetence, corruption, authoritarianism, and increasing partiality to Islam. In May 1960 the Menderes regime was overthrown in an army coup led by Gen Cemal Gürsel. Menderes, President Bayar, and others were tried for treason; Menderes was executed, but Bayar's sentence was commuted to imprisonment.

Inönü returns to power, 1961–65
Parliamentary government was reestablished during 1961, and elections were held in October. Gursel became president, and former president Ismet Inönü, of Atatürk's Republican People's Party, became premier. The main opposition group, the Justice Party, adopted many of the policies formerly held by the proscribed Democratic Party.

Inönü's government worked for friendlier relations with the USSR, while retaining Turkey's Western alliances. This policy was partially influenced by Turkish suspicions that Britain and the USA were pro-Greek in their attitude to the Cyprus question, which flared up again in December 1963, when Archbishop Makarios, the Cypriot president, declared Cyprus's intention of repealing the London and Zürich agreements unilaterally. For a time the whole NATO structure in the Mediterranean was threatened by Greek–Turkish hostility, and Turkish aircraft raided Cyprus in a defensive action to protect the Turkish Cypriots there. With the acceptance by Turkey and Greece of United Nations intervention and mediation in Cyprus, an uneasy lull followed.

Many Turks considered that their government had been too compliant over Cyprus, and this increased the difficulties of Inönü's coalition government. Between 1961 and 1965, through successive coalitions, Inönü had just succeeded in keeping the political system in being, staving off two coup attempts in 1962 and 1963, but in 1965 Inönü resigned.

Demirel and the return of military rule, 1965–73
Elections were held in October 1965, and the right-wing Justice Party won an absolute majority over all other parties. Its leader, Süleyman Demirel, became premier. In March 1966 Gen Sunay was elected president in succession to Gursel, who had become incurably ill. The Justice Party experienced increasing difficulties with its allies at home in parliament and, in the case of the USA, abroad. A further crisis in 1967–68 over Cyprus almost led to war with Greece.

From 1968 clashes between political extremists and with the army became more violent. In 1969 the Justice Party was returned in the election, but, because the party split, it had a reduced majority. Prompted by strikes and student unrest, the army forced Demirel to resign in March 1971, and for the next two years the country was under military rule again. During this period Turkey's reputation suffered because of the curtailment of civil liberties, and a war was fought against urban guerrillas.

The invasion of Cyprus and its aftermath, 1974–76
After the lifting of martial law, elections were permitted in October 1973, and the Republican People's Party (RPP) under Bulent Ecevit, who had opposed military domination, won a slim, but not overall, majority. He succeeded in forming a coalition, which lasted between January and September 1974.

Ecevit's reputation was greatly enhanced at home as a result of the invasion and occupation of northern Cyprus in July 1974 to protect the Turkish-Cypriot community, following the coup against Makarios by Greek Cypriots in favour of union with Greece. The Turkish invasion resulted in the effective partition of the island.

Ecevit resigned because of difficulties in his coalition in September 1974, largely due to his refusal to annex northern Cyprus. Only in March 1975 did Demirel succeed in forming another coalition government. This polarization in politics resulted in a new growth of disorders beween left- and right-wing forces on the university campuses, and an inability of the government to cope with Turkey's economic problems.

Relations were inevitably strained with Greece, over the sovereignty of the Aegean islands as well as over Cyprus, and inertia over the search for a solution in Cyprus led to a crisis with the USA. An embargo was imposed on arms supplies for a time, and Turkey retaliated with closer control over US bases. The Soviet prime minister paid a successful visit in December 1975. However, with instability and political deadlock dominating the domestic front, the renewed intervention of the armed forces seemed a possibility. Following an embargo on arms by the USA and the closure of the US defence installations in 1975, a new defence agreement was signed in March 1976. In July and August of that year military confrontation arose between Greece and Turkey as a result of Turkish explorations for oil in areas of the Aegean Sea to which Greece laid claim. With rejection by the International Court of Justice of Greece's request for an injunction on further Turkish prospecting the crisis passed.

Political instability and military rule, 1977–83
At elections held in June 1977, the RPP won 221 seats in the national assembly, but Ecevit was unable to form a government, and in July Demirel became prime minister. His government was a coalition of his Justice Party, the National Salvation Party, and the Nationalist Action Party. Demirel precariously held on to power until 1978, when Ecevit returned, leading another coalition. He was faced with a deteriorating economy and outbreaks of sectional violence, and by 1979 had lost his working majority and resigned.

Demirel returned in November, but the violence continued, and in September l980 the army stepped in and set up a national security council, with Bulent Ulusu as prime minister. Martial law was imposed, political activity suspended, and a harsh regime established.

Democracy restored, 1983–91
Strong international pressure was put on Turkey to return to a more democratic system of government, and in May 1983 political parties were allowed to operate again. The old parties reformed under new names and in November three of them contested the Assembly elections: the conservative Motherland Party (ANAP), the Nationalist Democracy Party (MDP), and the Populist Party (SDPP). The ANAP won a large majority and its leader, Turgut Özal, became prime minister. Özal and the ANAP retained their majority in the 1987 election. In 1989 Özal was elected president, with Yildirim Akbulut as prime minister. In 1991 Mesut Yilmaz replaced Akbulut as head of the ANAP and became prime minister.

By 1987 Turkey was making overtures to join the European Community (EC; the predecessor of the European Union or EU). Long criticized for its violations of human rights, at the end of 1989 Turkey learned that its application for membership of the EC had been refused and would not be considered again until at least the mid-1990s. During the 1990–91 Gulf War, Turkey supported the US-led forces, allowing use of vital bases in the country.

The Kurdish conflict
Ethnic Kurds had long suffered discrimination in Turkey, and from 1984 there had been guerrilla fighting in Kurdistan, and a separatist Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) was active.

During the early 1990s Kurdish separatist activity escalated both within Turkey and in Europe, where Turkish businesses were targeted in several leading cities. In March 1995 the government launched a full-scale offensive into northern Iraq in an attempt to eliminate PKK bases there. This, along with a second action in July 1995, was widely condemned by the international community.

By the end of 1995 it was estimated that a total of 19,000 people had been killed since the hostilities began in 1984. A government crackdown was announced, but in April 1996 some of the bloodiest fighting of the separatist campaign took place, with a new Turkish offensive that claimed the lives of over 130 combatants – the Turkish government having ignored the rebel leader's unilateral ceasefire declaration in December 1995.

Support for the PKK appeared to be decreasing inside Turkey; a Kurdish nationalist party endorsed by pro-PKK media won only 4% of the vote in the December 1995 elections. The PKK, however, has an effective financial base among the half-million-strong Kurdish diaspora in Europe, and is aided by covert support from Syria and other rivals of Turkey.

In late 1998 Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, who had been under house arrest in Italy for a month, was freed. In a ruling that looked likely to worsen the diplomatic crisis between Italy and Turkey, an appeals court in Rome ruled that restrictions on Ocalan's movements were no longer justified. Ocalan, whom Turkey wanted extradited from Italy as a terrorist, had requested political asylum, provoking a Turkish embargo on imports from Italy.

Turkish politics in the 1990s
Following an inconclusive general election in October 1991, Demirel formed a coalition government with the support of the Social Democratic Populist Party, becoming premier for the seventh time.

President Turgut Özal died suddenly of a heart attack in April 1993. Demirel was elected president in May, and Tansu Ciller of the True Path Party (DYP) became Turkey's first female prime minister. In the 1994 assembly elections, the Islamicist Welfare Party made substantial gains.

In an attempt to boost the economy, the lira was devalued in January 1994. Following a rise in annual inflation to more than 70%, the government announced measures designed to stabilize the nation's economy, but by the end of 1994 the annual inflation rate had risen to 149%. During 1994, Turkey borrowed $742 million from the International Monetary Fund.

In September 1995, the governing coalition collapsed. A customs deal was agreed with the EU (formerly EC) in December. The December elections proved inconclusive, with the Islamicist Welfare Party winning the largest numbers of seats. After weeks of negotiation, Ciller and ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz agreed in February 1996 on a rotating five-year ANAP–DYP coalition, with Yilmaz as premier. In May 1996 the DYP withdrew from the coalition.

In March 1997 Prime Minister Erbaken bowed to public pressure for measures to stamp out Muslim fundamentalism and in the following month concluded a 18-point agreement with senior military officers that would further curb the growth of the Islamic movement at the expense of the secular state.

The broad-based coalition government of Mesut Yilmaz won a vote of confidence in July 1997, proclaiming a government of national unity and promising to reduce the influence of Islamists. After 11 months of Islamist-led government, the new government showed an understanding of secularism which appeared to be in line with that prevalent in Western Europe. The government, however, collapsed in November 1998 when Mesut Yilmaz this time lost a vote of confidence. After Yalim Erez, an independent politician, failed in early January 1999 to form a government, he was replaced as prime minister by the Bülent Ecevit. Ecevit's centre-left party won most seats in a general election in April 1999. A far-right nationalist National Action Party came second and an Islamist party third. Ecevit's coalition government, which included the National Action Party, won a vote of confidence in June.

The trial of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, who had been arrested in Europe, began in May 1999. He was charged with treason and attempting to divide the state by force, and sentenced to death in June. Across Europe, Kurds protested and governments condemned the verdict. In November 1999 the death sentence was upheld by a Turkish appeal court, leading Ocalan to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Ocalan told his fighters in August 1999 to withdraw from the country's southeast and ordered them to halt all attacks. The PKK announced that it would lay down its arms and end 15 years of violence. The USA then told Ankara that, with the PKK all but defeated, it must recognize the rights of Turkey's Kurdish minority. At the same time, the US administration called on the PKK to end the violence. Ocalan appealed to the Turkish government to begin a dialogue with the PKK, saying his guerrillas were prepared to hand over their arms in exchange for Kurdish rights. The PKK turned itself into a legitimate political organization in February 2000, announcing that it renounced the armed struggle it had waged against the Turkish government for the past 15 years.

In December 1999, Turkey was at last declared a candidate for entry to the EU, but in order to become a full member it would need to meet EU criteria on human rights and settle its territorial dispute with Greece. Hopes for joining the EU were jeopardized, and domestic peace troubled in February 2000, when the leader of the only legally recognized Kurdish party, the People's Democracy Party (Hadep), and the mayors of three cities in Turkey's Kurdish southeastern region (also members of Hadep), were charged with helping the outlawed PKK. Turan Demir, head of Hadep, was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment. The president of the European parliament urged Turkey to free the mayors, and although her request was initially rejected, the mayors were set free at the end of February, pending the outcome of their trial.

The Turkish parliament voted in April 2000 to prevent a change to the constitution that would have allowed the president, Suleyman Demirel, run for a second term. Officially the position of the Turkish president is largely ceremonial, but Demirel's predecessor, Turgut Ozal, made the role more influential. In May 2000 Judeg Ahmet Necdet Sezer was sworn in as the new president. He pledged reform to push the country towards EU acceptance, which would involve sweeping legal reform in order to implement European standards on Turkish law. In August, he overruled a decree that had allowed the government to dismiss bureaucrats deemed too pro-Kurdish or insufficiently secular.

Amnesty
Nearly 20,000 prisoners were freed in late December 2000 under an amnesty law designed to reduce crowding in prisons. The amnesty was criticized because it did not apply to Turkey's many political prisoners.

Financial crisis
During November 2000, Turkey fell into a financial and banking crisis, triggered by an investigation into corruption among bankers. After two and a half weeks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in with a US$10 billion aid package, which reversed the stock market fall. However, in February 2001, criticisms of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit by President Ahmed Necdet Sezera over a corruption investigation led to another stock market crash, thousands of job losses, and the decision to float the lira, the value of which then plummeted. The collapse of Turkey's exchange-rate policy forced the government to abandon the IMF programme and announce new reforms, including the sale of debt-ridden state companies. More than 50,000 people stormed barriers and tried to march on Turkey's parliament in Ankara in April when Ecevit refused to step down.

Also in March, the government unveiled planned changes to the justice system to meet European Union conditions for membership. In April the human rights group Amnesty International urged Turkish authorities to end the abuse of prisoners. Many inmates, 17 of whom had died, were on hunger-strike in protest of their conditions. Others were on hunger-strike to highlight their transfer to isolation. In May the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turks had violated almost every article of the European Human Rights Convention after their invasion of Cyprus in 1974. In June, European MPs again urged Turkey to conform to human rights laws on prisons, after 23 inmates died in hunger strikes protesting at the smaller cells they said subjected them to isolation and mistreatment.

Political party banned
In June 2001, Turkey's Constitutional Court banned the pro-Islamic opposition party, Fazilet Partisi (FP; Virtue Party), on the grounds that it had flouted the country's strictly secular political system. In August, the popular politician Tayyib Erdogan, a former mayor of Istanbul, set up a new Islamic party, the Justice and Development Party (AK), from the moderate faction of the FP.

In October, Turkey's parliament approved a package of 34 amendments to the constitution to help pave the way for membership of the EU. Among other reforms, restrictions against the use of the Kurdish language were to be relaxed. But the package fell short of EU hopes as the death penalty was retained, although its use was restricted to cases of terrorism, and under threat or in times of war. Further reforms were enacted the following month, with women being formally recognized in law. In early December, Turkey lifted its objections to the formation of a 60,000-strong EU rapid-reaction force. Turkey, a member of NATO, had wanted to deny the EU access to the alliance's assets unless it was given a veto over their use.

In July 2002 parliament voted to hold elections in November, 18 months early, despite the objections of Prime Minister Ecevit who headed a disintegrating coalition government of his own Democratic Party, the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, and the Motherland Party. The political turmoil followed the resignation from the Democratic Party of foreign minister Ismail Cem and other senior party figures earlier in the month.

The flag was selected following a design competition. The waves represent the Pacific Ocean. Effective date: 12 July 1979. >>