General elections were held in Turkey on 22 July 2007 to elect 550 members to the Grand National Assembly. Originally scheduled for November, the elections were brought forward after parliament failed to elect a new president to replace Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The result was a resounding victory for the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP), which won 46.6% of the vote and 341 seats. The party's leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was consequently re-elected as Prime Minister of Turkey. The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) came second with 20.9% of the vote and took 112 seats. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which had failed to surpass the 10% election threshold in the 2002 election, re-entered parliament with 14.3% of the vote and 71 MPs.Turkey re-elects governing party BBC News, 22 July 2007 The election was fought mostly on Turkey's debate over laïcité that had been perceived to be under threat from the AKP's nomination of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, an Islamist politician, for the Presidency. Developments in Iraq (explained under positions on terrorism and security), secular and religious concerns, the intervention of the military in political issues, European Union membership negotiations, the United States and the Muslim world were other main issues.
In addition to the AKP, CHP and MHP, several Kurdish nationalist and socialist parties formed an electoral alliance named the Thousand Hope Candidates (Bin Umut Adayları) and contested the election as independents in order to bypass the 10% threshold. The alliance, formed of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), Labour Party (EMEP), Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) and the Socialist Democracy Party (SDP), polled strongly in the south-east where there is a large Kurdish population, receiving 3.81% of the national vote and 22 seats in parliament.
Background Originally due to be held in November, the elections were called early after the 2007 presidential elections resulted in parliamentary deadlock. The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) had nominated former Prime Minister and serving Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül as its presidential candidate, amid huge opposition and concern over his former Islamist political background. The controversy was largely caused due to the Turkish Presidency's symbolic role in safeguarding secularism. The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) subsequently boycotted the parliamentary process of electing a president, denying the government the 67% quorum of MPs necessary for Gül's election to be validated. As required by the constitution, a snap early general election was called for 22 July 2007.
Conduct Over 42 million people were eligible to vote in the election.
Minimum age According to a recent change in election law, the minimum age for candidates for parliament was reduced from 30 to 25. But due to the fact that laws do not take effect for one year after passage, only candidates above the age of 30 were able to be elected in this election.
Death threats On 14 May a death threat was issued by the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to the Republican People's Party (CHP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), True Path Party (DYP) and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to withdraw their candidates in the cities of Van and Hakkâri allowing Democratic Society Party (DTP) dominance. Turkey, NATO, UN, United States and EU recognizes the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization.
Parliamentary threshold According to Turkish election laws, a party must gain at least 10% of national vote to be represented in the Grand Assembly. Ostensibly, this law is aimed at preventing a highly fragmented parliament, and yet it is also argued that this is used as a cloak to keep the Kurds from the parliament. Many parties that failed to cross this threshold in the last election will seek a return to Parliament. As the 10% threshold requirement only holds for political parties, to bypass this requirement, the Democratic Society Party decided to have its candidates run as Independents. On 13 May DTP announced that if they wanted to, they could lock up the elections by putting in five to ten thousand independent candidates. The next day in a statement, the Supreme Election Committee () responded to DTP's threat by stating that there is no issue and that they would simply use "larger envelopes".
Eligibility for election Muammer Aydin, the President of the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey, claimed that after the scrutiny of the candidates in terms of their eligibility, the election board decided that Erbakan and former DEP (Democratic Society Party) parliamentarians (Orhan Doğan, Selim Sadak and Hatip Dicle), who was jailed after being found guilty of supporting the PKK, would not be allowed to stand as candidates in the election. In a statement regarding some of the candidates in prison, DTP leader Türk said that hundreds of people support them, even though some are associated with murder cases. The Supreme Court of Appeals wrote a letter to DTP and demanded the cancellation of the candidacy of 74 founding members on the basis that they have criminal backgrounds which automatically disqualifies them from being the elected. DTP leader Türk said, "DTP took the decision to show these people as candidates because [the] Kurdish people see Ankara, the Parliament, as the place for a solution." DTP's move to promote candidates with criminal background was perceived as building a "politics of controversy" in the country as Türk also stated that they had taken the necessary measures to fill the positions of candidates who might be rejected by the Supreme Election Board.
Issues The stage of the elections were set for a fight for legitimacy in the eyes of voters between Erdoğan's government, which has been criticized as having Islamic leanings, and the country’s secular movement, supported by the Turkish military. Erdoğan, it is said, wants to divert the attention of the voters from local issues to theoretical and ideological ones by making the election a platform for the presidential election.
Positions on higher education
The capacity of Turkish higher educational institutions falls short compared to the number of high school graduates. The Council of Higher Education is responsible from the planning, implementation and accreditation of higher education in Turkey. The Council of Higher Education limits the number of the available educational institutions based on the available educators (PhD) in the public sector. The second branch, private universities (established by vakifs) are limited by the conditions of accreditation set by the Council of Higher Education.
Erdoğan announced that the problem lies with the Council of Higher Education. Erdoğan proposed that if his party is elected, they will change the constitution to solve this issue. Erdoğan did not give the details or the financial implications of his plan. During the same speech, Erdoğan also proposed to establish a higher educational institution in every province. Critics claim that there is at least one university in every province, and the problem is not construction of buildings but recruiting qualified professors. Erdoğan did not talk about his previous campaign issues, such as the use of the hijab (specially women's head covering) as a religious symbol in higher education which he had previously promoted based on the concept of Islamic jurisprudence.
Positions on the presidency
The 2007 presidential election was deadlocked in the failed negotiations on the issues surrounding the new president by the parties. The lack of this negotiation forced the Prime Minister Erdoğan and his party to declare early elections to establish a new parliament to tackle the issues of the Presidency.
Erdoğan claims that the position of President is political and it should be elected by the public not by the parties. "How can those who see the election of the Turkish president by popular vote as a problem for the regime ask votes from the people?" asked Erdoğan.
The Republican People’s Party accused Erdoğan of acting with "a sense of vengeance" for having failed first to secure his, then his chosen candidate, Gul's election. Now, at the expense of creating a "degenerated parliamentary system", he is trying to secure a new path to his goal. Baykal said it would mount a legal challenge to this ideology. Baykal claims that the position of president in Turkey is non-partisan, and should be above political concerns and is designed to play an oversight role. The President's job description and powers demand that the policies articulated from this office should reflect a balance within the country, and be an institution which all the parties can trust. Because of this balancing act, according to Baykal, it is very important to create [he says "protect"] the neutral point [through reaching an agreement at the parliament among the parties] as to the President, thus preventing domination of a single party [which might generate PM and President at the same time] and control every mechanism of the Turkish political system.
Foreign policy Position of parties regarding Foreign issues. IssueCHPAKPMHPEU membershipSupportSupportOpposeRelations with USSupportSupportSupportCyprusConfederationConfederationTwo independent states
Positions on terrorism and security The PKK is a Kurdish group listed as a terrorist organization by many international organisations, however, after the post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present PKK continued to have training/propaganda camps in northern Iraq and perform attacks using these secure locations into Turkey. The status of these bases have been debated in the Turkish political system for the last two decades. During the 1990s, with the political order, Turkish military destroyed PKK bases in northern-Iraq for the short term reliefs.
Nationalist Movement Party wants the military to destroy PKK camps, and it is willing to give this order to the army anytime as camps reestablish. Erdoğan did not give this order and claimed that he is expecting the request from the military. The military claims the political goal of the military activity should be established by the Erdoğan's ruling party, before any consideration. The Democratic Society Party is against the destruction of these camps, and Ibrahim Aydogdu, the Diyarbakir branch leader of the DTP, claimed on February 18, 2007 "Any attack on Kirkuk [northern Iraq] would be tantamount to an attack on Diyarbakir in Turkey".
Campaign
Parties and regions Fourteen parties contested the election:
Parties Bright Turkey Party (Aydınlık Türkiye Partisi, ATP) Communist Party of Turkey (Türkiye Komünist Partisi, TKP) Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti, DP) Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi, SP) Freedom and Solidarity Party (Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi, ÖDP) Independent Turkey Party (Bağımsız Türkiye Partisi, BTP) Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) Labour Party (Emek Partisi, EP) Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Demokrat Parti, LDP) Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) People's Ascent Party (Halkın Yükselişi Partisi, HYP) Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) Workers' Party (İşçi Partisi, İP) Young Party (Genç Parti, GP)
Additionally, members of the Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi, DTP) stood as independents in mainly Kurdish-inhabited districts; over 600 independents contested the election in total.
There are 550 deputies distributed based on the count of electoral vote :
The regions and # of deputies Adana 14 Adıyaman 5 Afyonkarahisar 7 Ağrı 5 Amasya 3 Ankara 1. Bölge 15 Ankara 2. Bölge 14 Antalya 13 Artvin 2 Aydın 8 Balıkesir 8 Bilecik 2 Bingöl 3 Bitlis 4 Bolu 3 Burdur 3 Bursa 16 Çanakkale 4 Çankırı 3 Çorum 5 Denizli 7 Diyarbakır 10 Edirne 4 Elazığ 5 Erzincan 3 Erzurum 7 Eskişehir 6 Gaziantep 10 Giresun 5 Gümüşhane 2 Hakkâri 3 Hatay 10