Justice and Development Party

Justice and Development Party (Turkey)

The Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi or AK Parti, or AKP†) is the incumbent Turkish political party. The AKP portrays itself as a moderate, conservative, pro-Western party that advocates a liberal market economy and Turkish membership in the European Union. In 2005, the AKP was granted observer membership in the European People's Party. The AKP won 46.6% of the popular vote and was allocated 341 seats in the rescheduled 22 July 2007 elections. While the total vote share represented a massive increase over the 34% of the vote it received in the 2002 general election, the AKP ultimately garnered fewer seats as a result of the MHP passing the 10% total vote threshold necessary to claim parliamentary seats. Abdullah Gül, a prominent AKP leader and former Foreign Minister, is currently the President of Turkey, while Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the head of the party and the Prime Minister.

A reformist faction (Turkish: yenilikçiler)inside the former islamist party have founded AKP. Refah (Welfare) Pary was in power before and carried on the political islamist tradition, Milli Görüş (National View)to Fazilet from 1970 contionously. Dispute between the reformists and the traditionalists in the Virtue Party caused the formation of the Justice and Development Party on August 14, 2001,after a major resignment wave of members such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Abdullah Gul, Bulent Arinc; following the congress of the Virtue Party. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the AK Party, stated that "AK Party is not a political party with a religious axis" when the party was founded. Critics accused it of harboring a hidden agenda.

Erdoğan’s AK Party shifted the focus of religiously-affiliated politics from concern over Turkey’s lack of Islamic characteristics to pushing for democratic and economic reforms in addition to stressing moral values through the communitarian-liberal consensus. Erdoğan also sought to temper his party’s Islamist image by building a broad-reaching coalition with members of centre-right parties, and by promising to further Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. Erdoğan also positioned the AKP as the opposition party to the old, secular, state-driven development parties that had been proven ineffective by the repeated economic crises of the 1990s and early 2000s.

After some initial stumbling, notably when Erdoğan was temporarily blocked from taking up the Prime Ministership, the AK Party has found its feet. It survived the crisis over the 2003 invasion of Iraq despite a massive back bench rebellion where over a hundred AKP MPs joined those of the opposition Republican People's Party in parliament to prevent the government from allowing the United States to launch a Northern offensive in Iraq from Turkish territory.

The AK Party has undertaken significant structural reforms, and during its rule Turkey has seen rapid growth and an end to its three decade long period of hyperinflation—inflation had fallen to 8.8% by June 2004. Influential business publications such as The Economist consider the AK Party's government the most successful in Turkey in decades.

In the local elections of 2004, the AK Party won an unprecedented 42% of the valid votes, making inroads against the secular nationalist Republican People's Party (CHP) on the South and West Coasts, and against the Social Democratic People's Party (Turkey), which is supported by some Kurds in the Southeast of Turkey.

In January 2005, the AK Party was admitted as an observer member in the European People's Party (EPP), the conservative party of the EU. It is likely to become a full member of the EPP if Turkey is admitted to the EU. If the EU eventually rejects Turkey for membership, however, many fear that the AKP could again split between its reformist and conservative factions, heralding another period of instability in Turkish politics.

The AKP has brought on many changes that are interpreted as being non-secular or rooted in Islam. In 2005, AKP banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in a section of Ankara which was mostly occupied by bars and restaurants. This ban was soon lifted due to the response from the area's business owners; however, a licensing requirement still remains for the establishments. AKP has also been accused of placing anti-secular individuals in government offices and giving out government contracts to parties with a reputation for being rooted in Islam. In 2007 AKP passed a bill lifting the headscarf ban in all universities. This action was criticized by the secular parties, and also served as the last straw, leading to the 2008 indictments calling for the Party's outlaw.

Upon being indicted, the AKP government has made multiple arrests in the secular population. This has been interpreted as the final attempt to rid the country of powerful secularist before the party's possible closure. On August 5, 2008, President Abdullah Gul, assigned 21 new deans to all government Universities after the verdict of the party closure trials. The Turkish media, released that all newly placed deans were for the lift of the headscarf ban. On August 9, 2008, Edibe Sozen, an AKP parliament member, proposed establishing a prayer section in all schools, and to ban the sales of pornographic images to anyone under the age of 16. The the proposed bill also included that anyone over 16 purchasing the content, would be logged via, Citizen Identification Number. In 2004, in providence of Istanbul, Muammer Guler, the mayor of Istanbul, passed a bill banning all publicly displayed images, including advertisements, containing partial nudity such as swim suit advertisements.

The AKP achieved a landslide victory in the rescheduled July 22, 2007 elections with 46.6% of the vote, translating into control of 341 of the 550 available parliamentary seats. Although the AK Party received significantly more votes in 2007 than in 2002, the number of parliamentary seats they controlled decreased due to the rules of the Turkish electoral system. However, they retain a comfortable ruling majority.“Don’t Stop, Keep Going On!” was the slogan of the Justice and Development Party in the general elections of 2007.

Territorially, the elections of 2007 saw a major advance for the AK Party, with the party outpolling the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in traditional Kurdish strongholds such as Van and Mardin, as well as outpolling the secular-left CHP in traditionally secular areas such as Antalya and Artvin. Overall, the AKP secured a plurality of votes in 68 of Turkey's 81 provinces, with its strongest vote of 71% coming from Bingöl. Its weakest vote, a mere 12%, came from Tunceli, the only Turkish province where the Alevi sect form a majority.

This judicial manoeuvre came after a similar suggestion by retired general Doğu Silahçıoğlu in February. Silahçıoğlu has been named as the possible leader of the Ergenekon network, whose suspected members are currently undergoing a high-profile trial. Hinting at Ergenekon, retired intelligence officer Mahir Kaynak says that the closure case was motivated by the group's desire to stop the AKP and remake society.

The chief prosecutor's office made the "chief prosecutor file" public on 14 March 2008. Prime Minister Erdoğan and his deputies immediately convened the governing body to discuss the chief prosecutor file the next day. The Constitutional Court reviewed the file and unanimously accepted the indictment.

The Constitutional Court reviewed both the initial response of the AK party and its technical position and developed questions regarding the positions. The court's questions were presented to the AK Party officials. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek presented the AK Party's defense testimony in court. A court-appointed rapporteur, Osman Can, advocated in his report that the Court should reject the closure case.

After deliberating for three days, the court gave its verdict on 30 July 2008. AKP (Justice and Development Party) was found guilty of becoming the focus of anti-secularist actions. A qualified majority of seven out of eleven votes is required to disband a political party. Six members of the Court voted in favour of disbanding the party, thus falling short of the required qualified majority by one vote. Four members voted to cut government funding for the party, while the Court leader rejected to close it down. The Court rejected most of the demands of the prosecutor and did not ban the party, however it determined the party as the focus of actions that are anti-secular and halved its funding from the Central Bank as a penalty.

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Accession of Turkey to the European Union

Turkey's application to accede to the European Union (previously the European Communities) was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since 1963. After the eleven founding members, Turkey was one of the first countries to become a member of the Council of Europe in 1949, and was also a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1961 and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1973. It has also been an associate member of the Western European Union since 1992. Turkey signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki summit of the European Council. Negotiations were started on 3 October 2005, and the process is likely to take at least a decade to complete. The membership bid has become a major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union.

The modern Republic of Turkey is the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic power in Europe between the late 14th and the early 20th centuries; but by the 19th century it had sunk into a decline that led some to call it the "sick man of Europe." After the Empire's collapse following World War I, Turkish revolutionaries led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk emerged victorious in the Turkish War of Independence, establishing modern Turkey as it currently exists today. Atatürk, then Prime Minister and later President of Turkey, implemented a series of reforms that modernized the country and moved it more towards European culture. During World War II, Turkey remained neutral until February 1945, when it joined the Allies. During the Cold War, Turkey allied itself with the United States, taking part in the Marshall Plan in 1947, joining as a member state the Council of Europe in 1949, and joining NATO in 1952.

Turkey first applied for associate membership in the European Economic Community in 1959, and on 12 September 1963 signed the "Agreement Creating An Association Between The Republic of Turkey and the European Economic Community", also known as the Ankara Agreement. This agreement came into effect the following year on 12 December 1964. The Ankara Agreement sought to integrate Turkey into a customs union with the EEC whilst acknowledging the final goal of membership. In November 1970, a further protocol called the "Additional Protocol" established a timetable for the abolition of tariffs and quotas on goods traded between Turkey and the EEC.

1980 saw a temporary stop in relations as a result of the 1980 Turkish military coup following political and economic instability, though the recommencement of multiparty elections in 1983 saw Turkish-EEC relations fully restored. On 14 April 1987, Turkey submitted its application for formal membership into the European Community. The European Commission responded in December 1989 by confirming Ankara’s eventual membership but also by deferring the matter to more favorable times, citing Turkey’s economic and political situation, as well its poor relations with Greece and the conflict with Cyprus as creating an unfavorable environment with which to begin negotiations. This position was confirmed again in the Luxembourg European Council of 1997 in which accession talks were started with central and eastern European states and Cyprus, but not Turkey. During the 1990s, Turkey proceeded with a closer integration with the European Union by agreeing to a customs union in 1995. Moreover, the Helsinki European Council of 1999 proved a milestone as the EU recognised Turkey as a candidate on equal footing with other potential candidates.

With the 2002 election of the pro-European Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a number of reforms led to increasing stability both politically and economically. In 2004, as part of the drive to enter a reunified Cyprus into the EU, the Turkish government supported the UN-backed Annan Plan for Cyprus. This plan was accepted by Turkish Cypriots, but rejected by the Greek Cypriots. At the same time, a three-decade-long period of hyperinflation ended, with inflation reduced to 6% from annual levels of 75% during the mid-1990s.

The political reform program of the Erdoğan government continued. This included the abolition of capital punishment, crackdown on torture, and more rights for its Kurdish population. In response to these developments, the European Commission recommended that the negotiations should begin in 2005, but also added various precautionary measures. The EU leaders agreed on 16 December 2004 to start accession negotiations with Turkey from 3 October 2005. Despite an offer from the Austrian People's Party and the German Christian Democratic Union of a privileged partnership status, a less than full membership, EU accession negotiations were officially launched.

Turkey's accession talks have since been dogged by a number of domestic and external problems. Several European states such as Austria have made their reluctance to allow Turkey into Europe clear. The issue of Cyprus continues to be a major obstacle to negotiations. European officials have commented on the slowdown in Turkish reforms which, combined with the Cyprus problem, has led the EU’s enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn to warn of an impeding ‘train crash’ in negotiations with Turkey. Due to these setbacks, negotiations again came to a halt in December 2006, with the EU freezing talks in 8 of the 35 key areas under negotiation.

The earliest date that Turkey could enter the EU is 2013, the date when the next financial perspectives (the EU's six year budgetary perspectives) will come into force. Ankara is currently aiming to comply with EU law by this date, but Brussels has refused to back 2013 as a deadline. It is believed that the accession process will take at least until 2021.

In order to accede to the EU, Turkey must first successfully complete negotiations with the European Commission on each of the 35 chapters of the EU's acquis and then the member states must unanimously agree to Turkish membership. Public opinion in EU countries generally opposes Turkish membership, though with varying degrees of intensity, although political leaders and politicians of the European Union generally support it. Some countries, notably France and Austria, have discussed putting the decision to a referendum.

Turkey’s entry into the EU may have profound consequences on the future direction of the EU. The issues mentioned by some of those objecting to Turkey's EU candidacy can be divided among those inherent to Turkey's situation, those that involve internal issues about human rights, democracy, and related matters, and those concerning Turkey's open external disputes with its neighbours. There is much contention over whether some of these arguments are used as proxies to hide a feeling that the country is not culturally European and therefore should be denied entry.

Proponents of Turkey's membership argue that it's a key regional power with a large economy and the second largest military force of NATO that will enhance the EU's position as a global geostrategic player; given Turkey's geographic location and economic, political, cultural and historic ties in regions with large natural resources that are at the immediate vicinity of the EU's geopolitical sphere of influence; such as the East Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, the Middle East, the Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia.

Upon joining the EU, Turkey's 71 million inhabitants would bestow it the second largest number of MEPs in the European Parliament. Demographic projections indicate that Turkey would surpass Germany in the number of seats by 2020.

EU member states must unanimously agree on Turkey's membership for the Turkish accession to be successful. A number of nations can oppose it, notably Austria, which historically served as a bulwark for Christian Europe against the Ottoman Empire; and France, which is fearful of the prospect of another wave of Muslim immigrants, especially given the poor integration of its existing Muslim minority.

Attempts to change the French constitution to remove the compulsory referendum on all EU accessions after Croatia resulted in a new clause requiring compulsory referendums on the accession of all countries with a population of more than 5% of the EU's total population; this clause would apply to Turkey and Ukraine. The French Senate, however, blocked the change in the French constitution, in order to maintain good relations with Turkey.

Turkey has the seventh largest economy in the Council of Europe and the fifteenth largest economy in the world. Turkey is a founding member of the OECD and the G-20 major economies.

Turkey's GDP growth rate from 2002 to 2007 averaged 7.4%, which made it one of the fastest growing economies in the world during that period. And, despite a global economic slowdown in 2008, real GDP growth for the year was a respectable 4.5%. Turkey's economy is no longer dominated by traditional agricultural activities in the rural areas, but more so by a highly dynamic industrial complex in the major cities, mostly concentrated in the western provinces of the country, along with a developed services sector. In 2007, the agricultural sector accounted for 8.9% of the GDP, while the industrial sector accounted for 30.8% and the services sector accounted for 59.3%. The tourism sector has experienced rapid growth in the last twenty years, and constitutes an important part of the economy. In 2008, there were 30,929,192 visitors to the country, who contributed 21.9 billion USD to Turkey's revenues. Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are banking, construction, home appliances, electronics, textiles, oil refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, iron and steel, machine industry and automotive. Turkey has a large and growing automotive industry, which produced 1,147,110 motor vehicles in 2008, ranking as the 6th largest automotive producer in Europe in that year; behind Germany (5,819,614), France (3,174,260), Spain (2,770,435), the United Kingdom (1,648,388), and Italy (1,211,594), respectively. Turkey is also one of the leading shipbuilding nations; in 2007 the country ranked 4th in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered ships, and also 4th in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of ordered mega yachts.

Turkey has taken advantage of a customs union with the European Union, signed in 1995, to increase its industrial production destined for exports, while at the same time benefiting from EU-origin foreign investment into the country. In 2008, Turkey's exports reached 132.0 billion USD (main export partners: Germany 11.2%, UK 8%, Italy 6.95%, France 5.6%, Spain 4.3%, USA 3.88%; total EU exports 56.5%.) However, larger imports amounting to about 201.8 billion USD threaten the balance of trade (main import partners: Russia 13.8%, Germany 10.3%, China 7.8%, Italy 6%, USA 4.8%, France 4.6%, Iran 3.9%, UK 3.2%; total EU imports 40.4%; total Asia imports 27%).

Turkey's per-capita GDP places it among the upper-middle income countries. In 2006, Eurostat calculated the minimum monthly wage in Turkey as €331, which was larger than the minimum monthly wage in nine European Union member states, namely Bulgaria (€82), Romania (€90), Latvia (€129), Lithuania (€159), Slovakia (€183), Estonia (€192), Poland (€234), Hungary (€247) and the Czech Republic (€261).

According to Forbes magazine, Istanbul, Turkey's financial capital, had a total of 35 billionaires as of March 2008 (up from 25 in 2007), ranking 4th in the world behind Moscow (74 billionaires), New York City (71 billionaires) and London (36 billionaires), while ranking above Hong Kong (30 billionaires), Los Angeles (24 billionaires), Mumbai (20 billionaires), San Francisco (19 billionaires), Dallas (15 billionaires) and Tokyo (15 billionaires).

The opening of talks regarding the Economic and Monetary Policy acquis chapter of Turkey's accession bid was expected to begin in June 2007, but were stalled by France.

Statistics show that the birth rate is declining in the entire continent of Europe. Especially in Eastern Europe and Russia, population growth is negative. The EU member states already set a goal to solve the impact of the aging population. Turkey has a young population. This might act as a balance for the increasingly aging populations of the current EU.

As of 2005, the population of Turkey stood at 72.6 million with a growth rate of 1.5% per annum. The Turkish population is relatively young, with 25.5% falling within the 0–15 age bracket. Population growth is expected to slow, as Turkey has a sub-replacement fertility level.

According to statistics released by the government in 2005, life expectancy stands at 68.9 years for men and 73.8 years for women, with an overall average of 71.3 years for the populace as a whole. Education is compulsory and free from ages six to 15.

The Turkish people, are an ethnic group, defined more by a sense of sharing a common Turkish culture and having a Turkish mother tongue, than by citizenship, religion or by being subjects to any particular country.

The word Turk or Turkish also has a wider meaning in a historical context because, at times in the past, it has been used to refer to all Muslim inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire irrespective of their ethnicity. The question of ethnicity in modern Turkey is a highly debated and difficult issue. Figures published in several different sources prove this difficulty by varying greatly.

The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. Turkey's area, inclusive of lakes, occupies 783,562 square kilometres (300,948 sq mi), of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 sq mi) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometres (9,174 sq mi) in Europe, thus making Turkey a transcontinental country. Turkey's area makes it the world's 37th-largest country, and is about the size of Metropolitan France and the United Kingdom combined.

Ankara, the Turkish capital, is in Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey. Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, and its cultural and financial centre, is the only metropolis in the world which is situated on two continents. Istanbul was chosen as European Capital of Culture for 2010.

Turkey's membership would mean that the European Union's external borders would reach the Middle Eastern neighbors of Turkey, such as Syria, Iraq and Iran.

The island of Cyprus is still divided after the Turkish invasion in 1974, following a coup d'etat by Nikos Sampson against the Cypriot government of Archbishop Makarios III and fully supported by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 in Athens under its de facto leader Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannides. Turkey's original intention, which was declared on July 20, 1974, by the Prime Minister of that period, Bülent Ecevit, was to prevent the island's annexation to Greece and to bring an end to the Cypriot intercommunal violence which took place between 1963 and 1974. Since 1974, Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Republic of Cyprus (an EU member since 2004) as the sole authority on the island, and recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north. Turkey and Turkish Cypriots backed the 2004 Annan Plan for Cyprus aimed at the reunification of the island, but the plan was subsequently rejected by Greek Cypriots on the grounds that it did not meet their needs. According to Cypriots, the latest proposal included maintained residence rights for the many Anatolian Turks that were brought to Cyprus after the invasion and their descendants, and Greek-Cypriots who lost their property after the Turkish invasion would be granted only a restricted right of return. Although the outcome received much criticism in the EU as well, the Republic of Cyprus was admitted into the EU a week after the referendum.

The Turkish government has refused to officially recognise the state of Republic of Cyprus until the removal of the political and economic blockade on the TRNC. Turkey's non-recognition of the Republic of Cyprus has led to complications within the Customs Union. Under the customs agreements Turkey already signed as a precondition to start negotiations in 2005, it is obliged to open its ports to Cypriot planes and vessels, but Turkey refuses this and insists it will only do so after the EU proposal to open up direct trade with the Turkish Cypriots and provide €259,000,000 in funds to help them upgrade their infrastructure is fulfilled. Greek Cypriots have subsequently threatened to veto accession talks unless Turkey complies.

Greece has been supportive overall of Turkish membership, with Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis declaring, "Full compliance, full accession" in December 2006. In 2005 the European Commission referred to relations between Turkey and Greece as "continuing to develop positively" while also citing the lack of progress made by Turkey in dropping their claim of casus belli over a dispute about territorial waters boundaries.

Turkey has a secular constitution, with no official state religion. Nominally, though, 99% of the Turkish population is Muslim of whom over 70% belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. A sizeable minority, about over 25% of the Muslim population, is affiliated with the Shi'a Alevi sect. The Bektashi belong to a Sufi order of Islam that is indigenous to Turkey, but also has numerous followers in the Balkan peninsula, particularly in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria. The Christians (Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Gregorian, Syriac, Protestant) and Jews (Sephardic, Ashkenazi) are the two other sizable religious minorities in the country. Turkey would be the first Muslim-majority country to join the European Union, although Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, also Muslim-majority, have been recognized as potential candidate countries.

The number of practising Muslims, Christians, Jews or followers of other faiths is not known, because newborn babies are automatically registered to the faith of their parents (in most cases the father) and this remains as such on their identification papers, unless they have it changed or removed with a court's order after reaching the age of 18. Official population census polls in Turkey do not include information regarding a person's religious belief or ethnic background due to the regulations set by the Turkish constitution, which defines all citizens of the Republic of Turkey as Turkish in terms of nationality, regardless of faith or race.

There is a strong tradition of secularism in Turkey. The state has no official religion nor promotes any, and actively monitors the area between the religions. The constitution recognizes the freedom of religion for individuals, whereas religious communities are placed under the protection of the state; but the constitution explicitly states that they cannot become involved in the political process (by forming a religious party, for instance) or establish faith-based schools. No party can claim that it represents a form of religious belief; nevertheless, religious sensibilities are generally represented through conservative parties. Turkey prohibits by law the wearing of religious headcover and theo-political symbolic garments for both genders in government buildings, schools, and universities; the law was upheld by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights as "legitimate" in the Leyla Şahin v. Turkey case on 10 November 2005.

The EU was especially critical of this law during the September 2005 trial of novelist Orhan Pamuk over comments that recognized the deaths of thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians. Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn and members of the European Parliament called the case "regrettable", "most unfortunate", and "unacceptable". After the case was dropped three months later, Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül indicated that Turkey may abandon or modify Article 301, stating that "there may be need for a new law". In September 2006, the European Parliament called for the abolition of laws, such as Article 301, "which threaten European free speech norms". On April 30, 2008, the law was reformed. According to the reform, it is now a crime to explicitly insult the "Turkish nation" rather than "Turkishness"; opening court cases based on Article 301 require the approval of the Justice Minister; and the maximum punishment has been reduced to two years in jail.

Kemal Kerinçsiz, an ultra-nationalist lawyer, and other members of Büyük Hukukçular Birliği (Great Jurists Union) headed by Kerinçsiz, have been "behind nearly all of trials." In January 2008, Kerinçsiz was arrested for participating in an ultra-nationalist underground organization, Ergenekon, allegedly behind the attacks on the Turkish Council of State and Cumhuriyet newspaper, the assassination of several Christian missionaries and Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, as well as allegedly plotting the assassination of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.

In its second report on women's role in social, economic and political life in Turkey, the European Parliament emphasized that respecting human rights, including women’s rights, is a condition sine qua non for Turkey's membership of the EU. According to the report, Turkey's legal framework on women's rights "has in general been satisfactory, but its substantive implementation remains flawed".

Turkey is one of the two states (with Azerbaijan) among the 47 members of the Council of Europe which has refused to recognize the status of conscientious objectors or give them an alternative to military service.

Public opinion in EU countries generally opposes Turkish membership, though with varying degrees of intensity. The Eurobarometer September-October 2006 survey shows that 59% of EU-27 citizens are against Turkey joining the EU, while only about 28% are in favour. Nearly all citizens (about 9 in 10) expressed concerns about human rights as the leading cause. In the earlier March-May 2006 Eurobarometer, citizens from the new member states were more in favour of Turkey joining (44% in favour) than the old EU-15 (38% in favour). At the time of the survey, the country whose population most strongly opposed Turkish membership was Austria (con: 81%), while Romania was most in favour of the accession (pro: 66%). On a wider political scope, the highest support comes from the Turkish Cypriot Community (pro: 67%) (which is not recognised as sovereign state and is de facto not EU territory and out of the European institutions). These communities are even more in favour of the accession than the Turkish populace itself (pro: 54%). Opposition in Denmark to Turkish membership was polled at 60% in October 2007, despite the Danish government's support for Turkey's EU bid.

The opening of membership talks with the EU in December 2004 was celebrated by Turkey with much fanfare, but the Turkish populace has become increasingly skeptical as negotiations are delayed based on what it views as lukewarm support for its accession to the EU and alleged double standards in its negotiations (France and Austria have indicated they will hold referendums on Turkey's membership). A mid-2006 Eurobarometer survey revealed that 43% of Turkish citizens view the EU positively; just 35% trust the EU, 45% support enlargement and just 29% support an EU constitution.

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Republican People's Party (Turkey)

The Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi or CHP) is the oldest political party in the Republic of Turkey and is the main party of the Centre-left. The party was established during the Congress of Sivas as a union of resistance groups against the invasion of Anatolia. The union represented Turkish people as a unified front during the Turkish War of Independence. On September 9, 1923 "People's Party" officially declared itself as a political organization and on October 29, 1923 announced the establishment of the Turkish Republic. On 10 November 1924 the People's Party renamed itself to "Republican People's Party" (CHP) as Turkey was moving into Single-Party period.

During the Single-Party period CHP become the major political organization of Single-party state. However, CHP faced two opposition parties during this period. The first one was the Progressive Republican Party established in 1924 by some famous generals such as Kazım Karabekir and Ali Fuat Cebesoy of the Turkish War of Independence and the second one was the Liberal Republican Party founded by Ali Fethi Okyar in 1930, both of which, however, were banned within a few months of their establishment by the "single-party state". This experience was followed by the National Development Party founded by Nuri Demirağ, in 1945.

The current (or modern) structure of the party was established with the transition to Multi-party period of the Republic of Turkey. After World War II, with the title Millî Şef("National Chief"), Gen. İsmet İnönü who was in lead of CHP has introduced democratic elections to the Turkish society. Consequent reforms enabling further democratization can also be interpreted as a response to the Soviet threat since the Soviet Union was about to get permission from the former allies to invade the Eastern part of Turkey and to limit Turkish sovereignity over her straits. It was a smart move for İsmet İnönü to side with the Western pact to preserve national sovereignity for a while, but in the meantime his party lost the first truly-democratic elections (the second general elections after 1946) of the republican era, held in 1950, and he left his seat to his old companion, Celal Bayar.

During the interim "Multi-Party Periods" in between the military coups of 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997, CHP is regarded as being social-democratic (member of the Socialist International), state nationalistic and secular/laicist. The party's logo consists of the Six Arrows, which represent the foundational principles of Kemalist Ideology: republicanism, nationalism, statism, populism, laicité, and revolutionism.

CHP, along with all other political parties of the time, was closed down for a brief period by the military coup of 1980. An inheritor party which still participates in Turkish democratic life, was established in 1984, as Democratic Left Party by the former leader of CHP, Bülent Ecevit. CHP was finally reestablished with its original name in September 9, 1992, with the participation of a majority of its previous members of the pre-1980 period.

Republican People's Party is currently a center-leftist political party with traditional ties to middle and upper-middle classes such as white-collar workers, retired generals, government bureaucrats, academicians, college students, left-leaning intellectuals and labor unions such as DİSK, and well-to-do entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, the loose relationship between CHP and some labor unions, business chambers and most non-governmental organizations alienated significant support from CHP. The distance between party administration and many leftist grassroots, especially left oriented Kurdish voters, contributes the shift of CHP from political left to an authoritarian base.

Despite heavy criticism from liberal and libertarian socialist interest groups, CHP still holds a significant position in the Socialist International as well as being an associate member of the Party of European Socialists. CHP urged the Socialist International to accept Republican Turkish Party of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an observer member.

At the 2007 general election CHP ran in alliance with Democratic Left Party. CHP suffered a heavy defeat, getting 7,300,234 votes (20.85% of the total). CHP, YTP, and DSP combined got 21.77% of the votes back in 2002. The party could become first only in three provinces in Thrace (Edirne, Tekirdağ, Kırklareli) and two provinces on the Aegean coast (İzmir, Muğla). With these results, 112 candidates (13 of these MPs are DSP affiliates) were elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from the CHP electoral sheet compared to 178 in 2002.

During the War of Independence, 1919-1922, the parliament in Ankara was composed by different types of deputies. To have a harmony among his followers, Mustafa Kemal and his colleagues formed Müdafaa-ı Hukuk grubu (the group of Defence of the Law). The opposition to Mustafa Kemal or to the commissars elected by the parliament has united under the name of second group of Defence of the Law, simply second group (so the Mustafa Kemal followers were later called as first group). Although second group has always been minority, it could create active opposition within the parliament. In January 1923, Mustafa Kemal Pasha announced that first group would be transformed to a Party named Halk Fırkası (People's Party). In May 1923, the parliament called a bill for new elections, most probably, because Mustafa Kemal and his colleagues wanted to guarantee the peace treaty's, held in Lausanne, approval by more unanimous parliament. The People's Party was officially founded only after the 1923 elections. The 1923 elections were definitely the victory of forthcoming Party, because of the its leaders reputation after the military victory of the War of Independence and it was the liquidation of second group. Thanks to this unanimity of this second parliament, the republic was proclaimed, the Treaty of Lausanne was accepted and Caliphate was abolished.

However, in 1924, after the short-period of a single-party rule, many of Mustafa Kemal's ex-colleagues, for many reasons (many of them was offended because they were losing power, or their opposition to the short-period of a single-party rule's revolutionary activities, etc...) Rauf Orbay, Kâzım Karabekir, Ali Fuat Cebesoy and many others founded an opposition party called Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası (Progressive Republicans Party). After the foundation of an opposition party, People's Party changed his name to "Republican People's Party". The life of Progressive Republicans Party was short. In 1925 Sheikh Said rebellion was sparked in the east of Turkey. The party was closing down because of the martial law, Takrir-i Sukun and all the prominent members were sent before the Independence Courts, but none of them was found guilty and all of them was release. Even this event was enough to dismiss the prominent members of opposition party. From that period 1925 till 1946 was the a single-party rule, with a short break of Serbest Fırka (Liberal Party) which was actually found by Atatürk, himself and its leader was one of his closest friends Ali Fethi Okyar. Unfortunately, this party was closed down by its founders, shortly after the İzmir meeting which was a huge demonstration against Republican People's Party. In the period of 1925-1930, Republican People's Party introduced the reforms transforming Turkey to a modern State. In the period of 1930-1939, the Party was transformed itself and tried to widespread his ideology (fro instance 6 arrows were accepted after 1930) after the liberal Party experience which showed its leaders how fragile was their rule over the people.

The day after Atatürk's death, İsmet İnönü was elected the second president and assumed the leadership of CHP. On the general nationwide congress of CHP on 26 December 1938, İsmet İnönü was elected as the "everlasting CHP leader". The delegates donated Atatürk the title "eternal chief", and to İnönü the title "national chief".

During 1940s, CHP established Village Institutes, which were an enlightenment project developed in order to lift the huge gap between the urban and rural areas. Various scientists, writers, teachers, and doctors graduated from Village Institutes; and supported Turkey's modernization efforts.

In the elections of 1946, which were done in a "unique" fashion, whereby the votes were cast out in the open (under the watchful eyes of the state/CHP apparatus) and then they were tallied in secret by the CHP faithfuls and then burned and destroyed immediately, CHP claimed that they won the elections by a 70% majority vote and gained 396 seats and thus self-ranked as the first party. However, to protect their seats before the 1946 elections, CHP had introduced and passed the electoral legislation bringing the winner-take-all system for each province. In this system, if a party got the most votes in a province, it would have captured all MP seats for that province. However, at the elections of 1950, Republican People's Party was hit by its own electoral system, DP gained 408 seats with 53.3% vote. This was followed by the defeat on 3 September 1950 municipal elections, in which Democratic Party (DP) gained 560 municipalities, and CHP only 40 municipalities.

Real multiparty democracy started with CHP transferring power to DP in a peaceful manner, without a revolution or a coup in 1950. From that time on, Republican People's Party formed the official opposition.

On 26 November 1951, during the ninth Congress of CHP, youth branch and women branch of CHP were formed. On 22 June 1953 establishment of labor unions and vocational chambers was proposed, and the right to strike for workers was introduced in the party program.

On 2 May 1954, CHP again lost the elections to DP, gaining only 31 seats with 35.4% of the total vote. DP captured 505 seats with 57.6% vote, due to the winner-take-all system. However, from that time on, CHP started increasing its votes, CHP intensified its opposition tactics, increasing its vote share to 41%, gaining 178 seats, in 27 October 1957 elections. DP gained 424 seats with 47.9% vote.

Since Democratic Party could not stand the opposition of CHP; DP threatened to close CHP, and confiscated all belongings of CHP, including the heritage of Atatürk. In addition, Democratic Party also oppressed other opposition parties; suppressing the media, and violating democracy.

In addition to the authoritarian government, Democratic Party also suffered from corruption and increasing inflation, caused by the devaluation and external debt. In the single-party CHP government, CHP developed the railway system; but DP insisted on the highways and motorways, which increased the petroleum demand of the young Turkish Republic, creating great economic crises.

Eventually on 27 May 1960; the Turkish army, supported by the media, university professors and the opposition, seized the power and overthrew the Democratic Party government. Even though the military intervention was welcomed by some CHP members, CHP leader İnönü was strongly opposed to the coup. Although he (and his party) was threatened by the Democratic Party, he opposed the intervention for the sake of democracy.

In the military coup of 1960, National Unity Committee was formed by the upper-class soldiers. National Unity Committee closed Democratic Party and started trials to punish Democratic Party leaders for their dictator regime. As a result, on 16/17 September 1961, Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were hanged in İmralı island prison. President Celal Bayar was forgiven due to his old age, but sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1961, Justice Party (AP) was established, claiming to be the successor to the Democratic Party. In the meantime, National Unity Committee established an interim House of Representatives instead of the TBMM, in order to prepare a new constitution for Turkey. In the new constitution, Constitutional Court was to be established, to prevent the government from violating the constitution (just as in the example of DP). 1961 constitution is accepted to be the most liberal and democratic constitution of Turkey. Also, the winner-take-all electoral system was immediately abolished, and proportional representation system was introduced. New constitution brought Turkey a bicameral parliament, composed of the Senate of the Republic as the upper chamber, and National Assembly as the lower chamber. National Unity Committee chairman General Cemal Gürsel was elected as the fourth president of Turkey.

On 15 October 1961, CHP won the elections, gaining 173 seats with the 36.7% of the vote. AP gained 158 seats, with 34.8% of the vote, below the last vote of DP. CHP leader İsmet İnönü formed the coalition with Justice Party (AP) as the prime minister. This was the first coalition government in Turkey's history. İnönü established two coalition governments until the 1965 elections.

Süleyman Demirel became prime minister in the late 1960s, and because he was the leader of the AP (Justice Party), he continued in the tradition of Adnan Menderes gaining a large amount of support from both the religious and democrats.

In 1971, the army brought down the AP government of Süleyman Demirel, and, in 1973, following some interim governments, the CHP was restored to power under Bülent Ecevit. Bülent Ecevit the CHP began to take on a distinct left wing role in politics and although remaining staunchly nationalist tried to implement socialism into the ideology of CHP.

In 1975, the CHP was again defeated by the Justice Party, where Demirel became prime minister again. From 1977 to 1979, the CHP was back in power with Ecevit (mostly in coalition with smaller parties including oddly enough the Islamist MSP party of Necmettin Erbakan later to be leader of the Refah Party), but in 1980, the AP returned with Demirel. The political switching between the CHP and the AP came to an end when the military performed a coup and banned all political parties.

After the 1980 military coup, the name of "Republican People's Party" and the abbreviation CHP was banned from use by the military regime. Until 1998, Turkey was ruled by the center right Motherland Party (ANAP) and the True Path Party (DYP), unofficial successors of the Democrat Party.

CHP was reestablished after the 1987 referendum and a legislation in 1993 which allowed the reestablishment of older parties.

In 1991, since Turkey's election system had two large election thresholds (10% nationwide and 15% local thresholds) and since center-left is divided into two parties (SHP and DSP), social democrats and democratic left groups had little power in the parliament. Between 1991 and 1995, Turkey was ruled by the coalition of center-right DYP and center-left SHP (Social Democratic Populist Party) (later SHP joined CHP). The political coalitions which ruled Turkey from the center right ANAP and DYP were making the country increasingly unstable. The Islamists returned with a new party the Fazilet (which was also later banned) while MHP the far right nationalist party had begun to take advantage of the disillusionment felt by former supporters of the Refah Party and the ever bickering ANAP and DYP.

In 1995, the Islamic Welfare Party (Refah Partisi) step into Parliament, and the CHP seemed to have been deserted by the Turkish people, having only 10% nationwide support and only 49 deputies of 550. It now seemed as if the CHP had been replaced as the main left-wing party.

But the Welfare Party was banned in 1998, and during the 1990s the Democratic Left Party (DSP), led by former CHP leader Bülent Ecevit, gained popular support. (Democratic Left Party is established by Ecevit family in 1985.) In 1998, after the resignation of RP-DYP coalition following the "February 28" post-modern and soft military coup, center-right ANAP formed a coalition government with center-left DSP and the small center-right party DTP (Democratic Turkey Party), along with the support of CHP.

However, due to big scandals, corruption and some illegal actions of this coalition, CHP withdrew its support from the coalition and helped bring down the government with a "no confidence" vote. Just before the elections of 1999, DSP formed an interim minority government with the support of DYP and ANAP; and the terrorist PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya under the Ecevit rule.

Therefore in the elections of 1999, CHP failed to pass the 10% threshold (8.7% vote), winning no seats in Parliament. Baykal resigned in 1999, Altan Öymen became the leader. But 1 year later, Baykal became the leader of the party again.

About a month after the general elections of 1999, a coalition government between DSP-MHP and ANAP was formed under the leadership of DSP. This government passed many important laws, including banking reform, unemployment insurance, law to ensure the autonomy of the Central Bank, qualified industrial zones, tender law, employment incentive law, to name a few. The government also changed 34 articles of the Constitution to widen fundamental rights and freedoms, and did this with the approval of all the parties in Parliament. Turkey became a candidate country to the European Union (wihtout any political preconditions and with equal treatment as all other candidate countries). Three major EU harmization packages were passed during this government, including the most comprehensive package of August 3, 2002, which included the removal of the death penalty and many changes in fundamental rights and freedoms. An economic crisis which resulted from long overdue problems from previous governments caused a drop in the currency in February 2001. But 2 months later, the government passed a series of very comprehensive economic reforms which enabled the high growth of 2002-2007.

Because DSP was staunchly opposed to the invasion of Iraq by the US, a campaign to divide the DSP and force a change of government in Turkey was started. When its coalition partner MHP called for early elections in the summer of 2002, ıt was forced to enter early elections, before the results of the wide economic reforms could be felt. As a result, none of the coalition parties were able to pass the 10% national threshold.

In the 2002 Parliamentary elections, the CHP won 178 seats in Parliament, and only it and the AKP (Justice and Development Party) entered Parliament. The CHP became the main opposition party again and Turkey's second largest party. It had begun the long road to recovery.

It must be understood however, that this had very little to do with voters supporting CHP. Many were former DSP supporters who were angry at the economic crisis that many blamed on the Ecevit government. Also many DSP and ANAP supporters left these parties for AKP as did many MHP and Fazilet (now Saadet party) members.

Many on the left are still very critical of the leadership of CHP especially Deniz Baykal, who they complain is stifling the party of young blood thus turning away the young who turn either to apathy or even to vote for AKP. While AKP boast of a young leadership who have lived through many of the difficulties of many in Turkey CHP are seen as an 'old guard' that do not represent modern Turkey. The leftists also are very critical of the party's continuous opposition to the removal of Article 301 of Turkish penal code; which caused people to be prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" including Nobel Winner author Orhan Pamuk, Elif Şafak, and the conviction of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, its attitude towards the minorities in Turkey, as well as its Cyprus policy.

Despite this recovery, since the dramatic General Election of 2002, the CHP has been racked by internal power struggles, and has been outclassed by the AKP government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the local elections of 2004, its overall share of the vote held, largely through mopping up anti-Erdoğan votes among former supporters of smaller left-wing and secular right-wing parties, but was badly beaten by the AKP across the country, losing former strongholds such as Antalya.

Much of the blame was put on the leader of CHP Deniz Baykal. After the local elections CHP was racked by defections of several key members of the party all claiming a lack of democratic structure within the party and the increasingly-authoritarian way in which Deniz Baykal runs the party. Even those who support Deniz Baykal would admit that the party would be much more successful with a different leader.

In October 2004, New Turkey Party (Yeni Türkiye Partisi, YTP) merged into the CHP. Lately Baykal is bidding for fusing the DSP and CHP together under one roof, namely CHP, under his leadership.

In order to present a strong alternative to the AKP in the 2007 national elections, the DSP showed a sacrifice and entered the elections together with the CHP. The CHP and DSP alliance received %22 of the votes and entered the Parliament with 112 Members of Parliament.

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Justice and Development Party (Morocco)

The Justice and Development Party (Arabic: حزب العدالة والتنمية‎) (French: Parti de la Justice et du Développement, abbreviated to PJD) is the largest opposition political party in Morocco. The PJD promotes Islamism and Islamic democracy.

The party was founded by Dr. Abdelkrim Al Khatib an old politician known for his close ties with the Monarchy, under the name of MPDC (French: Mouvement populaire démocratique et constitutionnel). The party was an empty shell for many years, until various members of a clandestine association Chabiba islamia, who later formed the MUR (French: Mouvement unité et réforme) joined the party, with the authorisation and encouragement of former interior minister Driss Basri. It later changed its name to current PJD in 1998, reminiscent of the better known Turkish Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) which was founded three years later in 2001, however. It should be noted that the Moroccan PJD is less liberal and modern than the Turkish AKP, although a very slow modernisation process is going on.

In the parliamentary election, held on 27 September 2002, the party won 42 out of 325 seats, winning most of the districts where it was allowed to compete. Its secretary-general since 2004 is Saadeddine Othmani, deputy of Inezgane, an outer suburb of Agadir. In the parliamentary election held on 7 September 2007, the PJD won 46 out of 325 seats, behind the Istiqlal Party, which won 52. This was contrary to expectations that the PJD would win the most seats.

The party had a tradition of publishing violent diatribes in the newspaper of the MUR (Attajdid), focusing its criticism on the Westernisation of Moroccan society (for example manners, women, clothing, social conduct), but not on the monarchy per se, as this is still a taboo subject in Morocco. However, since the 2003 Casablanca bombings it has considerably softened its criticism, and has adopted a lower profile and a more pragmatic attitude. The party's political and social program is considered by some to be vague, especially in its attitude towards civil liberties.

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