Assoc. Prof. Ahmet Demirel

THE PROFILE OF THE DEPUTIES ELECTED IN THE ONE-PARTY ERA

“The presentation examined the socio-economic background of the parliamentary deputies serving during the years of the national struggle (1920-1922) and the single-party era (1923-1946) and provided new statistical data collated from recently published, detailed biographical information. It provided a critical analysis of the socio-economic background of the deputies elected to represent the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey. Demirel’s analysis drew on “localism” - defined as representation of the constituency one was born in - as a key concept to allow a better understanding of the nature of the electoral process at that time.

Although localism - which can be regarded as one of the important indicators of authentic representation - was extensive during the years of the national struggle, it was replaced by bureaucratic representation during the single-party era, especially starting with the 1927 elections held right after the Sheikh Sait Rebellion. Demirel showed that in the rebellions’ aftermath, the number of the local representatives rapidly decreased. He further documented that with the introduction of multi-party politics and democratic, free, competitive elections after the World War II, a return to localism was to be observed for the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey.”