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Chapter Nine Multi-Party Politics and the Defeat of Democracy The general election of May 1950 was a turning point in Turkish history, in the sense that after twenty-seven years of uncontested power, the People’s Party handed power to another party, and took on the uncomfortable role of opposition party. . Ismet . Inönü saw the defeat of the People’s Party as proof of the success of the post-war multi-party experiment, and he considered the creation of the multi-party system to be his own greatest accomplishment . . Inönü had guided Turkey through the dangers of World War II and the early Cold War and the uncertainties of changing political realities within Turkey. Only in later years, however, would the shortcomings of the multi-party system become evident. Throughout the period 1945–50, the goal of the multi-party system was to have multi-party elections. But how competition between parties would lead to a more democratic, just, egalitarian, and free society remained marginal to the debate. Instead, the struggle between the People’s Party and Democrat Party remained at the level of electoral procedure , and if, or how, to make the elections more fair for the competing parties . The main political issues continued to be development and progress, the role of the state in the economy, protecting national sovereignty, and relations with the Western powers.The main issues were the same basic issues that had occupied Ottoman andTurkish statesmen for more than a century. What had changed was the bi-polar global struggle of the Cold War, which meant that Turkish sovereignty had to be negotiated, and that the multi-party system never became a truly democratic system. As the election of 1950 approached, the struggle over procedure intensified, with the formation of a new cabinet, by the sixth Prime Minister to serve during I . nönü’s presidency. 189 190 THE POLITICS OF TURKISH DEMOCRACY The Günaltay Cabinet: Debate on Social and Economic Policy, and Election Reform The replacement of Hasan Saka by Şemsettin Günaltay in January 1949 marked the complete ascendancy of the young, “moderate” group in the People’s Party. Günaltay (1883–1961) studied in Switzerland before joining the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and serving in the Ottoman parliament during World War I. He served in the National Assembly from 1923 to 1954, and he was also an historian, known for his modernist interpretation of Islam. The Günaltay cabinet’s program was more liberal than that of Hasan Saka, and Günaltay pledged the improvement of relations between the People’s Party and the Democrat Party. The appointment of the Günaltay cabinet, in combination with the changes in the program of the People’s Party carried out since July 1947 also had the effect of decreasing the differences between the platforms of the People’s Party and the Democrat Party. While some members of the People’s Party continued to blame the successive cabinets for blending the objectives of the two parties, “hardliners” in the party targeted I . nönü and his attitude regarding the multi-party system. They argued that whereas the Democrat Party had gained support and popularity by attacking the economic, social, and legal position of the People’s Party, the latter was expected to compromise, thus make concessions in areas ranging from its platform to campaign practices for the upcoming elections. But I . nönü continued to maintain his position, and his cordial relations with Celâl Bayar. In a letter to his son in 1949, I . nönü wrote that he had lunch with Bayar and talked politics, and in good humor added: “we were very nice to each other today. May the evil eye not cast upon us.”1 Despite the dissension and concerns about their acceptance among the people, by 1949 the popularity of I . nönü and the People’s Party were growing . This renewed popularity of the People’s Party presented the opposition parties with the possibility of again losing the general election in May 1950. Thus during the period of Günaltay’s cabinet, the People’s Party policy was to consolidate and increase its popularity with the voters, while the opposition parties, in particular the Democrat Party, aimed to differentiate themselves from the ruling party and to maintain their image as alternatives in the minds of Turkish citizens. As the 1950 elections approached, changing concerns in domestic policy concurring with alterations in foreign...

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