POLITICAL SYSTEM
 

Turkey is a republic based on secular, democratic, and pluralistic principles. The Turkish Republic was established in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and has a parliamentary system of government that constitutionally protects personal rights and freedoms. As a result, Turkey has the divisions of power that one would expect: judicial, legislative, and executive.

 

Political institutions:
Turkey is a founding member of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, (OECD). It is also a member of United Nations, NATO, the European Council, the Islamic Conference Association, and an associate member of the European Union.

 

The highest judicial authority in Turkey is the Anayasa Mahkemesi (Constitutional Court). The executive branch is accountable to the Constitutional Court, which may also be called upon to review vetoed legislation. The legislative branch consists of the National Assembly. This body of 550 deputies, nationally elected by popular vote to serve a five-year term, develops legislation and elects the President, who serves for a seven-year term and has limited veto power.

 

The executive branch consists of the President, the Prime Minister, and the Council of Ministers. Consulting the popular vote, the President names the new Prime Minister, who leads the Council of Ministers. If the election is very close, a coalition government will be formed with Deputy Prime Ministers from the other strongly supported parties. Following the new Prime Minister’s recommendation, the President also appoints the members of the Council of Ministers, who head the various governmental departments (such as the Ministry of Education).

 

All Turkish citizens of 18 and over have the right to vote, and register to do so with their local electoral offices. All citizens over 30 are eligible to run for office.

 

Consultation with the public by means of referendum may also occur in Turkey. The Constitution was updated and re-declared in 1982.

 

The general elections held on July 22, 2007 is resulted. AKP - Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) won overwhelming victory became in a position to govern alone. CHP and MHP are the opposition parties in the Turkish National Assembly. The 550-member Assembly has 27 new independent MPs.

 

The reason of only three of fifteen parties entered into the elections is the vote threshold. According to Election Law any party drawing less than 10% of the national vote is excluded from Parliament and their votes discarded, regardless of the result in individual constituencies.

 

The following are the list of the parties entered into the elections and party percentage seats:


AKP
- Justice and Development Party 46.66 % 340 seats
CHP - Republican People's Party 20.85 % 98 seats
MHP - Nationalist Action Party 14.29 % 70 seats
Independent 27 seats
DP - Democratic Community Party 5.41 %
GP - Youth Party 3.03 %
SP - Happiness Party 2.34 %
BTP
- Grand Turkey Party 0.51 %
HYP - The Raise of Public Party 0.5%
IP
- Laborer's Party 0.36 %
ATP - Bright Turkey Party 0,29%
TKP - Turkey Communist Party 0.22 %
ÖDP - Freedom and Solidarity Party 0.15 %
LDP - Liberal Democratic Party 0.1%
EMEP - Labor Party 0.08%

 

Note: As of September 1, 2007 the number of independent MPs is 5.


The current President of the Republic is Abdullah Gül, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.