Single party era of the 1924 Constitution: democracy, autocracy & beyond

L’era del partito unico nella Costituzione del 1924: democrazia, autocrazia, e oltre

Abstract

The 1924 Constitution is the first Constitution of the Republic of Turkey that was adopted under ordinary conditions. It comes after big steps forward as reforms, such as the abolition of the sultanate and caliphate, took place in 1923. And above all the Independence War had been won. Under such an environment, the 1924 Constitution was adopted by the second parliament which was not a constituent assembly. As for the form of government, a parliamentary government system was adopted. Under such a scheme, till 1946 a single party ruled as the government, which leads us to discussions of the issues on democracy of the single-party era of the young Republic.
This study analyses the origins of the single-party regime established at the beginning of the Turkish republican period under the 1924 Constitution and highlights the authoritarian features of this text, such as the majoritarian (not pluralistic) conception of democracy and the lack of solid guarantees for the functioning of the democratic order.