POLS 443.01 Turkish Government
Department of Political Science and Public Administration

Instructor :  Ömer Faruk Gençkaya       Fall 2004
Time :  M  11:40 TH 13:40 TH 14:40 Room:  HA 101, AZ 25, AZ 25
Office Hours: M   13:40 W 10:40, 11:40 Room:  T 363
e-mail: genckaya@bilkent.edu.tr       Ext.: 1856
WEB: http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~genckaya/443.01

Course Description: This course is a study of the origins, development, structure, and functions of Turkish government. Topics include the constitutional framework; the concepts of centralization and unitary state; the three branches of government, including the bureaucracy, fundamental rights and freedoms; elections; and policy-making. Basic concepts of central and local government and their relationship with each other are also examined.

Course Requirements: There will be one term project (40 percent) relevant to the topics included in the course outline and one take-home final exam (40 percent). Term project may be based on literature survey (book and/or article review), archive work (newspaper and/or magazine search) or data gathering from original sources (parliamentary documents, executive orders, court decisions etc.). Term project must be chosen and one page description of research design must be submitted by October 8, 2004. After this date, you will lose 5 (five) points for each week you fail to submit your research design. Attendance (10 percent) and participation to discussions (10 percent) will be included in the final letter grade. Monday session will be reserved for discussion on the previous week’s topic(s) or for a guest lecturer from the relevant government or societal organizations. Guest lectures will be announced one week in advance.

Week I 23 September 2004 General Introduction

Week II 27-30 September 2004 Origins and the Founding Principles of Turkish Government

Marcie J. Patton, “Constitutionalism and Political Culture in Turkey,” in Daniel P. Franklin and Michael J. Baun, Political Culture and Constitutionalism, A Comparative Approach, Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1995, pp. 138-158.

Documents: the 1921, 1924 and 1961 Constitutions

Suggested Reading: A Speech delivered by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 1927, Basbakanlık Basimevi, 1981. pp. 372-384 and 659-741.

Week III 4-7 October 2004 The Structure of Turkish Government: the 1982 Constitution

Ergun Özbudun, “Constitutional Law,” in Tuğrul Ansay and Don Wallace, Jr., Introduction to Turkish Law, The Hauge: Kluwer Law International, 1996, pp. 19-46.

Week IV 11-14 October 2004 Supremacy of Legislative Power and the National Assembly

Ersin Kalaycıoglu, “The Turkish Grand National Assembly. A Brief Inquiry into the Politics of Representation in Turkey,” in Çigdem Balim et al., eds., Turkey: Political, Social and Economic Challenges in the 1990s, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995, pp. 42-60.

Ömer Faruk Gençkaya, “Reforming Parliamentary Procedure in Turkey,” in Ömer Faruk Gençkaya, Ruşen Keleş and Yasushi Hazama, Aspects of Democratization in Turkey, Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1999, pp. 2-21.

Document: the 1982 Constitution, Part III Chapter I

Week V 18-21 October 2004 Executive Power: Strong President with a Veto Power

Metin Heper and Menderes Çınar, “Parliamentary Government with a Strong President: the Post-1989 Turkish Experience,” Political Science Quarterly, 111 (3), 1996, pp. 483-503.

C.H. Dodd, “Kenan Evren as President: From Conflict to Compromise,” in Heper and Evin, eds., Politics in the Third Turkish Republic, Boulder: Westview Press, 1994, pp. 171-186. Metin Heper, “Turgut Ozal’s Presidency: Crisis and the Glimmerings of Consensus,” in Heper and Evin, eds., pp. 187-198.

Document: the 1982 Constitution, Part III Chapter II Articles, 101-108, 116-121

Week VI 25-28 October 2004 Executive Power: Prime-Minister, Council of Ministers and the National Security Council

Metin Heper, “The Executive in the Third Turkish Republic, 1982-1989,” Governance, 3, 1996, pp. 299-314

Turhan, M. (1992), “Parlamentarism or Presidentialism? Constitutional Choices for Turkey,” A.U. Siyasal Bilgiler Facultesi Dergisi, 47, p.153-168.

Document: the 1982 Constitution, Part III Chapter II Articles, 109-115, 116-121.

Week VII 1-4 November 2004 Judicial Independence and the Constitutional Court

Yasushi Hazama, Constitutional Review and the Parliamentary Opposition, The Developing Economies, 34 (3) 1996, pp. 316-338.

Zühtü Arslan, Conflicting Paradigms: Political Rights in the Turkish Constitutional Court, Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 11 (1), 2002, pp. 9-25.

Document: Law on the Establishment and Operation of the Constitutional Court

Week VIII 8-11 November 2004 Central Administration and Bureaucracy

C.H. Dodd, “Organization and Central Functions” and “Departmental Functions,” in C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey, Berkeley and Los Angeles: UC Press, 1969, pp. 223-258.

Metin Heper and M. Selçuk Sancar, “Is Legal-Rational Bureaucracy A Prerequitie for a Rational-Productive Bureaucracy? The Case of Turkey,” Administration&Society, 30 (2), 1998, pp. 145-165.

Document: State Personnel Law

Suggested Reading: Metin Heper, “The State and Public Bureaucracies: A Comparative and Historical Perspective, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 27 (1985), pp. 86-110.

Week IX 15-18 November 2004 HOLIDAY / Policy making

Ruşen Keleş and Yasushi Hazama, The Policy Process in Turkish Democracy, Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1993.

Sabri Sayarı,

Week X 22-25 November 2004 Decentralized Units: Local Administration and Municipalities

Structure and Operation of Local and Regional Democracy, Turkey, Situation in 1998, Report Adopted by the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CLRD), Council of Europe, 1998.

Ruşen Keleş, “Local Democracy in Turkey,” in Gençkaya et al., eds., pp. 22-52.

Documents: Law on Provincial Administration and Law on Municipalities

Week XI 29 November-2 December 2004 Political Parties

C.H. Dodd, “Political Parties,” in C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey, Berkeley and Los Angeles: UC Press, 1969, pp. 128-165.

Ergun Özbudun, “Parties and Party System,” in Ergun Özbudun, Contemporary Turkish Politics, Boulder, London: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2000, pp. 73-104.

Document: Political Parties Law

Week XII 6-9 December 2004 Elections

C.H. Dodd, “Elections,” in C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey, Berkeley and Los Angeles: UC Press, 1969, pp. 180-195.

Sabri Sayari, ed. Politics, parties, and elections in Turkey, Boulder:Lynne Rienner Pub. , CO   2002,

Documents: Election Laws

Week XIII 13-16 December 2004 Pressure Groups

Yasushi Hazama, “Civil Society in Turkey,” in Gençkaya et al., eds., pp. 53-97.

Ergun Özbudun, “The Post-1980 Legal Framework f or Interest Groups Associations,” in Metin Heper, ed., Strong State and Economic Interest Groups: the Post-1980 Turkish Experience, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1994, pp.

Documents: Associational Law and Law on Foundations

Suggested Reading: Robert Bianchi, Interest Groups and Political Development in Turkey, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Week XIV 20-23 December 2004 The Media and Politics

Arin Bayraktaroglu, “The Media, Change and Impact,” in Brian Beeley, ed., Turkish Transformation, New Century – New Challenges, Cambridgeshire: the Eothen Press, 2002, pp. 123-140.

Gerard Groc, “Journalist as Champions of Participatory Democracy,” in Heper and Evin, eds., pp. 199-212.

Document: Press Law

Week XV 27-30 December 2004 General Evaluation: Towards a Reform