transition to democracy and the democrat party regime 1945-60 w3

PSIR426Transition to Democracy and the Democrat Party

Regime 1945-60

W3

1945 represents an important milestone in the history of contemporary Turkey due to shifts that has taken place in her political regime, economic policies and the form of articulation with the world economy.

After twenty three years of mono-party rule, Turkey introduced multi-party competition. The Democrat Party, formed in January 1946, immediately won one seventh of the seats in the National Assembly in the elections held in 1946. After its victory the party gathered momentum until, the next general election in 1950, it won over 53 per cent of the votes cast.

1945 as a significant turning point

The new period that started after 1945 led to a gradual change in the closed, protectionist economic policies which were based on external balance. Imports started to be increased whereas foreign deficits started to become chronic therefore giving birth to an economy which is being increasingly dependent on the foreign aid, credits and foreign capital.

Turkey took part in the Western camp in the post-war

international order. Accordingly, she became a member of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank and the OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation) in 1947 and NATO in 1952.


In 1946 the government of the Republican People’s Party led by İsmet İnönü proposed to amend the laws

and thereby allow the formation of other political parties and

to compete for power in the general election of that same year.


By the end of the Second World War, İsmet İnönü's government had become deeply unpopular in the Turkish society:

The small farmers in the countryside, who still made up about 80 per cent of the total population had not seen any great improvement in their standard of living, in health, education or communications. Only a very small minority of villages was electrified.


Industrial workers were still a very small minority in Turkish society. Their socio-economic position was weak. Until June 1945, organizations based on class, and trade unions were still prohibited in Turkey as were strikes. The workers, like the other wage and salary earners, had been badly hit in their purchasing power by the rising cost of living during the war.


During the war, the government, faced with the necesssity to feed and equip a large army, had paid for its needs by having the Central Bank print money, thus encouraging inflation. Inflation had led to a sharp drop in the purchasing power of civil servants.


Although its main victim had been the non-Muslim business community, the varlık vergisi (the wealth tax) of 1942 had caused unrest and suspicion among the Turkish bourgeoisie in general.

Large landowners had been alienated by the

government's policy of artificially low pricing of agricultural produce to combat inflation during the war, by its 'tax on agricultural produce' and especially by the introducuction of land distribution bill çiftçiyi topraklandırma kanunu in January 1945. This bill, which president İnönü strongly promoted, played a crucial part in the emergence of political opposition in postwar Turkey.


The discussions of the Land Reform Bill in the assembly were the first occasion when the government was openly and vehemently criticized. The critics of the Bill, whom Adnan Menderes was the spokesman, had landowning connections.

Land reform, they argued, would lead to a decline in production which would have all sorts of adverse consequences; the principle of private property guaranteed by the constitution was also being violated.


Although the Bill was passed on 11 June, the attack on CHP’s policies continued. The attacks on the party resulted in the expulsion of three of MPs which led to the formation of the Democrat Party on 7 January 1946.


In short, at the end of 1945, the RPP had lost the legitimacy it enjoyed due to the economic and political progress of the first fifteen years of the Republic. At the end of the war, there was an expectation of change on the part of all the classes in Turkey.

Because of the CHP's close identification with the state apparatus under the one-party system, this resentment was directed at the party as much as it was at the state. İnonu was aware of these tensions, and remembering Atatürk's experiment with the Free Party in 1930, he decided to allow a degree of political liberalization and the formation of a political opposition as a safety valve.


That he and his government moved in this direction had to do something with the internal and external dynamics. A set of internal dynamics pushed the CHP regime to instigate a change on the economic and political front. The large landed interests and merchant capital was especially reinforced during the Second World War.

In the economic circumstances of the war which the total supply could not satisfy the total demand, some producers and big merchants made enormous gains by benefiting from the goods that went on to the black market. The desire of the big merchants and landlords to have access to foreign capital could not have been met as long as the state continued to have strong control over the economy.


This period is remarkable in the sense that a new international economic order is established after the end of the war. The impact of post-war American-led new international economic order on Turkey soon became apparent. Even before the end of the WWII, it became obvious that Turkey would take part in the American zone.

External pressures for democratization

A close relationship with the Soviet Union had been the cornerstone of Turkish foreign policy throughout the 1920s and 1930s, but the relationship had been soured by Turkey's neutral stance during the war.

With concern about Stalin’s policies in Eastern Europe increasing with every communist regime established there, Washington began to re-evaluate the strategic importance of Turkey. US military and economic aid to Turkey began during 1947-48 under the Truman Doctrine to be followed eventually by Turkey’s formal admission into NATO in 1952.


Accordingly, Turkey became a member of IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank and OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation) in 1947 and NATO in 1952 . Following Turkey’s membership to IMF on 11 March 1947, the US Congress adopted the Truman Doctrine which envisaged military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece in order to protect these countries from the “Communist influence”.


The USA implemented the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) in 1948 to aid Europe in solving its economic problems created by the Second World War. In this frame, Turkey received 100 million dollar military aid in the years 1947-48, and 351 million dollar credit in the years 1948-52.

In this period, it was clear to the Turkish leadership that in order to profit fully from the American political and military support and from the Marshall plan, it would be helpful for Turkey to conform more closely to the political and economic ideals (democracy and free enterprise), cherished by the Americans.


The national elections of July 21, 1946 returned the RPP to power with a safe margin. The DP took part and managed to win 62 of the 465 seats in the assembly. On 7 August a new People’s Party cabinet was formed, headed by Recep Peker, who was considered the most prominent hard-liner in the party.

After the 1946 national elections, the RPP developed a split

between the conservative wing, led by Prime Minister Recep Peker, and the Otuzbeşler (the Thirty-five), a group of more liberal RPP deputies. President İnönü, himself was the real architect of the liberal policy of the RPP. Finally after a long struggle within the party leadership, Recep Peker’s Cabinet fell, and was followed by the more liberal cabinets of Hasan Saka and Şemsettin Günaltay.

1946 election

1947 was the turning point in the adoption of new economic policies. Up to then, the RPP was still wedded to the policy of 'statism' introduced in the 1930s. This policy increasingly came under attack, both from indigineous business circles and from the Americans. The DP made itself the voice of indigeneous criticism. The more moderate leaders of the DP, such as Celal Bayar, wanted to change the role of the state in the economy from direct intervention to coordination and support of private iniative.

In their eyes, private enterprise should have absolute priority and the state should only intervene where private enterprise failed or could not hope to succeed through lack of capital. In January 1947, a number of İstanbul businessmen founded the İstanbul Tuccar Dernegi, the first such group not to be controlled by the government. It criticized statism, which it held responsible for the lack of economic progress in the country, and supported the ideas put forward by the Democrats.

RPP’s policies (1946-50)

At the same time, Turkey, impoverished after the war, was desperate for American financial assistance. The Turkish government had already applied for membership of the IMF and in order to qualify for membership, it took the so-called '7 September Decisions' of 1946.

Essentially, these meant a devaluation of the Turkish lira by 120 per cent (the first of many devaluations in the Republican era) and a number of liberalizing measures aimed at integrating the Turkish economy into the world economy.


In 1947, the CHP adopted a new 'Turkish Development Plan', which echoed the wishes of the İstanbul bourgeoisie and of the DP. It emphasized free enterprise, the development of agriculture and agriculturally based industry instead of heavy industry, roads instead of railways and development of the energy sector (oil).

The RPP Congress of November 1947 embraced the plan wholeheartedly. From this time onwards, there was hardly any difference between the DP and the RPP, the one exception being

that the DP wanted to sell of the state industries while the RPP did not.


In this period, as a result of the foreign trade regime that aimed liberalization, a development understanding which gives priority to external markets and agriculture, mining, infrastructure investments and construction sector rather than industrialization targeting the internal market is in effect.


The years between 1946 and 1950 were the years of constant liberalisation led by İsmet İnönü as much as an atmosphere of constant high tension between the RPP and DP.

DP’s own programme differed less and less from that of the RPP. The DP subscribed to the basic Kemalist tenets of nationalism and secularism so it could not differentiate itself from the government on that score. The points on which it had originally differed from the RPP (political and economic liberalization) were to a large extent taken over by the governing party between 1947 and 1950. In that respect, it should be underlined that Turkey's introduction to liberal economic policies did not start in 1950 with the Democrat Party’s coming to power. Although the liberal policies has become visible in the 1950s, its’ foundations was laid in 1946 when the RPP was in power.


In an environment two parties were increasingly resembling each other, the DP was in need of an atmosphere of constant high tension to mobilize public opinion.


The climax of the whole period of transition came with the elections of May 1950. They went off without major incident and by all accounts were indeed free and fair. The turnout was very high, with 80 per cent of the electorate casting its vote.

Democrat Party won 53.4 per cent of the vote against the RPP’s 39.8 per cent. Under the Turkish electoral system this meant that the DP received 408 seats in the new parliament against the RPP’s 69.

The elections of 14 May 1950

The Party was brought to power not only by its platform, which promised free enterprise and full application of the Constitution, but also by the fact that the electorate wanted a change from the RPP which had been in power since 1923.

In addition, all the troubles of the nation were blamed on the RPP. As elaborated in the previous lecture, different groups within the society had different reasons for opposing the RPP rule.

The Multi-Party Era: The Rule of the Democratic Party

After the elections, Celal Bayar was elected as the president of the republic whereas Menderes became not only prime minister but also party chairman, a position which under the RPP had always been held by the president.

The DP increased its share of the vote in the municipal and provincial elections, held later in 1950 and gained control of the administration at all levels.


The period from 1950 to 1954 were a golden age for the Democrats. Economic growth was high and there was a general satisfaction. By 1954, however, expectations had already begun to turn sour, as production grew at a more modest rate and inflation began to eat into real incomes.

Worried by the political impact of increasing economic discontent, the DP government began to curb democratic freedoms;


It adopted a number of amendments in 1953 to increase government control of the press and the universities (banning political activity on the part of professors). Two months before the elections scheculed for May 1954, the press law was again tightened.

In December 1953, the DP-dominated assembly requisitioned all the RPP's material assets and handed them over to the treasury.


Yet, DP's anxiety was completely unnecessary. In the 1954 general elections, the DP increased its vote from 52.68% in 1950 to 57.61%. This victory further aggravated their authoritarian tendencies.


The liberal policies that started to be implemented by the CHP government gained a new momentum by the DP’s coming to power in 1950 elections. Initially, the Democrats promised to liberalize the economy policies, increase the encouragement to private sector, and increase resources for agriculture .

The Economic Policies of the Democrat Party

However, the economic policies of the DP had to be changed soon due to the deterioration of the economic situation. Starting in September 1953, the trade and payments regime became increasingly restrictive in response to growing balance-of-payments difficulties. That is why it is important to underline the rupture between two periods (1950-53) and (1954-1961) in terms of economic policies pursued by the DP.


In the short period between 1950 and 1953, only a small number of import commodities were subject to quota restrictions, and import licenses were issued automatically. Export prohibitions were limited to only a few items. Commodity trade showed an expansion in these years. In this period, imports and export earnings increased.


In the first years of its governing, the DP government put in force a number of measures in support of the peasants. New lands were enabled to be used for agriculture and the mechanization of the agriculture accelerated, wheat was bought from the peasants at prices higher than the world prices. Peasants enjoyed cheap credit and low tax.


General Directorate of Highways, established in 1950 accelerated the construction of roads which further contributed to the expansion of the internal market by linking rural areas to cities.

Consequently, a combination of factors gave way to a rapid growth in the agriculture sector, leading to a 10 percent growth rate in GNP in 1950-53 . In this period, Turkey raised to fourth place in wheat export worldwide.


By 1953 a serious balance-of-payments problem had emerged. At the same time, inflationary pressures that had been eased by increased imports again became a threat to economic stability.

In 1953, in response to the worsening of the balance of payments, the government took steps to make the trade regime more restrictive, starting with measures introduced in September 1953. On September 1, 1953, the government issued a decree tightening its control over foreign trade. “Strict” licensing was to be required for all imports. Further, all importers were required to possess an “importer’s certificate”. Consequently, the level of imports has decreased consistently until the year 1958.


Starting from 1954 the favourable conditions for agriculture started to change with the end of the Korean War and worsening of the weather conditions which led to a decrease in the production by 20%. This sharp decrease in the agricultural production upset the internal and external balance of economy.


As a result, the trade and payments regime became increasingly restrictive. In 1955, the convertibility of the Turkish Lira was abolished. In the face of the crisis, Menderes government decided to give priority to industry rather than agriculture and tried to increase industrial investments through the state economic enterprises.

In order to increase domestic production for internal market, public investments in certain sectors were accelerated.


This move on the part of the government to make the trade regime more restrictive symbolises the beginning of a new episode in Turkish economic history.

These years are the years in which the liberal foreign trade policies that has been carried out since the end of the war has been abolished, and restrictions have been made in imports due to a decline in the demand for export goods and the limited amount of the foreign sources.


The 1954 elections had been a tremendous success for Menderes. The economic boom had vindicated his policies and the peasants now massively supported him. Over the next few years, however, the economic downturn slowly began to erode the support for the Democratic Party.

This was partly due to a real deterioration in standards of living (caused by the limits put on the imports of consumer goods, for instance), but it was also true that there had been an explosive rise in the average villager's expectations of material improvement, which the government could not meet.

Increasing Discontent Against DP and the Coup D’Etat of 27 May 1960

The 1957 elections showed a certain loss of support for the DP in the countryside, but nevertheless the party kept the support of the majority of the village population. (DP gained the 47.88 % of the votes while CHP gained 41.09% of the votes).


After coming to power, the Democrats started making concessions to the feelings of the Muslim population which alarmed the intellectuals, bureucrats and some segments of the army.

The prayer call in Arabic was made legal again, religious education was expanded in schools, the number of preacher schools was increased. There was a marked increase in the number of mosques being built and the sale of religious literature allowed again.


The rising inflation and the stagnant economy resulting from a grave shortage of foreign exchange forced Menderes to adopt even more authoritarian policies.

In late 1958, he attempted to restore his authority by forming the ‘Fatherland Front’ designed to unite everyone behind the government with opponents and critics, as well as anyone else who refused to join the bandwagon, denounced as subversives.


The result was to heighten tensions. The opposition felt even more hopeless about changing the government through legal and institutional channels. Meanwhile, the government harassed the opposition in every way possible.

Finally, in April 1960, the DP’s assembly group proposed setting up a committee to investigate the opposition’s activities which were described as subversive and designed to instigate a military revolt. Such a committee was created on 18 April and given powers which clearly violated the constitution.


Students, led by some of their professors, demonstrated against this measure in the capital and demonstrations soon spread to other cities. The government responded by declaring martial law but failed to restore calm.

Demonstrations continued into May and finally Menderes attempted to defuse the situation by declaring on 24 May that the investigating committee had completed its work and would soon make its findings public. He said that he intended to normalise the political situation by holding an early general election in September.


However, before he could find the chance, the government was overthrown by the Turkish Armed Forces in May, 27, 1960. The immediate cause of the coup was DP regime’s economic failures and its resorting to authoritarian measures and repressing the opposition. It was also alleged that DP violated Kemalist principles and especially secularism.


After taking over, junta or the National Unity Committee as they called themselves, invited a group of academics to form a commission and prepare a new constitution.

Commission recommended creating a new state and social institutions before restoring political authority and legal government. That would require preparing a new constitution, new laws and institutions, and a new election law. In order to accomplish these tasks, the military regime set up an interim government which the professors legalized with a provisional constitution on 12 June 1960.


This document permitted the NUC to exercise sovereignty on behalf of the Turkish nation until an assembly had been elected under the new constitution.

The junta exercised legislative power directly and executive power through the Council of Ministers appointed by the head of state who was also the chairman of the NUC. The Committee could dismiss ministers but only the head of state could appoint them; only the judiciary functioned independently of the junta.


The Commission had also issued a declaration justifying the military intervention on the grounds that the DP government had acted unconstitutionally and had thus itself become illegal. On 31 August the DP was suspended and on 29 September it was dissolved.


Accordingly, the former leaders of DP were trialed. The main charge in the trials was that the DP leaders had “abrogated” (feshetmek, iptal etmek) the 1924 Constitution by setting up a dictatorial regime. As a result of the trials, 123 people were acquitted, 31 were sentenced to life imprisonment and 418 to lesser terms, while 15 were sentenced to death.

The National Unity Committee confirmed only three of these death sentences. Consequently, the former prime minister Adnan Menderes, the former Foreign Secretary Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and the former Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were executed on 16-17 September.


transition to democracy and the democrat party regime 1945-60 w3

Documents

significant turning

world war

party rule

democrat party regime

republican peoples party

multiparty competition

world bank

world economy