General elections were held in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
on 3 November 2002 following the collapse of the
Democratic Left Party–
Nationalist Movement Party
The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been ...
–
Motherland Party coalition led by
Bülent Ecevit
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...
. All 550
members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of the
Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to:
* Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania
* Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...
were up for election.
The elections were held during an ongoing economic crisis that followed the
2001 financial crash, which resulted in a deep resentment of coalition governments which had governed the country since the
1980 military coup
__NOTOC__
Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 '' Ab ...
. The
Justice and Development Party (AKP) and
Republican People's Party
The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...
(CHP) had massive gains, transitioning from the multi-party parliament under a coalition government formed after the
1999 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 1999.
* 1999 electoral calendar
Africa
* 1999 Algerian presidential election
* 1999 Botswana general election
* 1999 Beninese parliamentary election
* 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...
into a two-party system ruled by the AKP and CHP, with no other parties winning any seats in parliament, only nine
independents being elected, and the AKP and CHP combined winning 98.36% of the seats. The AKP, which had only been formed in August 2001 by
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...
, won the elections with nearly
two-thirds of the seats. The protest vote was such that every sitting party previously represented in parliament was ejected, with the AKP winning 363 seats with just 34% of the vote. The only other party which passed the 10% threshold to gain representation was the CHP, which came second with 19.38% of the vote and 178 seats. The election produced Turkey's first single party government
since 1987 and the country's first two-party parliament
since 1961.
The moderate
Islamism
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...
advocated by the AKP was at odds with the
secular establishment of the Republic of Turkey. While serving as the
Mayor of Istanbul
This is a list of mayors of Istanbul, Turkey. This covers the Ottoman Empire to the modern day; the name of the city in English is Constantinople during the Ottoman period and in the Republican era until 1930.
Ottoman Empire
During 1453–18 ...
, Erdoğan was sentenced to a 10 month prison term in 1998 for reciting a poem in
Siirt
Siirt ( ar, سِعِرْد, Siʿird; hy, Սղերդ, S'gherd; syr, ܣܥܪܬ, Siirt; ku, Sêrt) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province. The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188.
History
Pr ...
for which he was accused of inciting
racial intolerance. This barred him from initially seeking a seat in parliament, meaning that the AKP's co-founder
Abdullah Gül
Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...
became Prime Minister following their election victory. With the help of the CHP, the government overturned Erdoğan's political ban in 2003, after which he was able to seek a seat in a
controversial by-election in the Province of Siirt. Erdoğan became Prime Minister in March 2003, with Abdullah Gül concurrently assuming the role of Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Results
Voting ended in the country's 32 eastern provinces at 15:00, having begun an hour earlier in morning, and in the remaining 49 provinces at 16:00. Counting began immediately afterwards.
A press black-out was placed on all results by the electoral authority so that it could ensure all ballot boxes were secure, but even when it became clear that every box in the country had been sealed, the authority refused to sway from its original deadline of 9pm. With early results being already announced by foreign media outlets, Turkish television switched to a live shot of the Electoral Authority headquarters until an announcement was made at 7.30pm revoking the black-out.
Aftermath
New government
Although the AKP's victory was indisputable, Erdoğan's appointment as
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
was delayed owing to his previous criminal conviction, which prevented him from standing for parliament. Another prominent party member,
Abdullah Gül
Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...
, became prime minister (
Cabinet Gül
The cabinet of Abdullah Gül took office on 19 November 2002. He succeeded to the fifth government of Bülent Ecevit.
After the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice and Development Party (AKP) became the biggest party in the 2002 Tur ...
) and remained in the position until a constitutional amendment could be pushed through to allow Erdoğan to stand for a freshly vacant seat in
a March 2003 by-election. The AKP taking power may have contributed to the
Turkish economic boom of the 2000s
The Turkish economic boom of the 2000s refers to a period of stabilization and growth following the 2001 Turkish economic crisis. Between 2002 and 2007, Turkey's economy experienced an average growth rate of 7.2%, much higher than the average grow ...
, though it is unlikely.
Party leader resignations
The result prompted the near-immediate resignations of several prominent figures in Turkish politics:
*
Mesut Yılmaz
Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz () (6 November 1947 – 30 October 2020) was a Turkish politician. He was the leader of the Motherland Party ( tr, Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) from 1991 to 2002, and served three times as Prime Minister of Turkey. His first two p ...
, former prime minister and leader of the
Motherland Party (ANAP). He was succeeded by
Ali Talip Özdemir.
*
Tansu Çiller
Tansu Çiller (; born 24 May 1946) is a Turkish academic, economist and politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996. She is Turkey's first and only female prime minister to date. As the leader of the True Path P ...
, former prime minister and leader of the
True Path Party
The True Path Party ( tr, Doğru Yol Partisi, DYP) was a centre-right political party in Turkey, active from 1983 to 2007. For most of its history, the party's central figure was Süleyman Demirel, a former Prime Minister of Turkey who previously ...
(DYP). Çiller was succeeded by her former interior minister,
Mehmet Ağar
Mehmet Kemal Ağar (born on 30 October 1951) is a Turkish former police chief, politician, government minister and leader of the Democratic Party. He was a police officer who rose to General Director of the General Directorate of Security (effect ...
.
*
Devlet Bahçeli
Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish politician, economist, former deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the far-right, ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
An academic in economics from Gazi University, B ...
, leader of the
Nationalist Movement Party
The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been ...
(MHP) and junior coalition partner in the outgoing government. His resignation was not accepted by his party's central committee, and he remained leader.
Outgoing prime minister Ecevit was widely expected to resign as leader of his
DSP
DSP may refer to:
Computing
* Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal
* Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing
* Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...
, but did not end up leaving until a party conference in 2004.
See also
*
History of Turkey (1946-present)
*
Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey
References
{{Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
General elections in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
November 2002 events in Turkey