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the politics of turkish democracy ismet inönü and the formation of the multi-party system 1938­1950 john m vanderlippe t

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the politics of turkish democracy

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suny series in the social and economic history of the middle east donald quataert editor

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the politics of turkish democracy i smet i nönü and the formation of the multi-party system 1938­1950 john m vanderlippe state university of new york press

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published by state university of new york press albany © 2005 state university of new york all rights reserved printed in the united states of america no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission no part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic electrostatic magnetic tape mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher for information address state university of new york press 194 washington avenue suite 305 albany ny 12210-2365 production by michael haggett marketing by anne m valentine library of congress cataloging-in-publication data vanderlippe john m the politics of turkish democracy ismet inönü and the formation of the multi-party system 1938­1950 john m vanderlippe p cm suny series in the social and economic history of the middle east includes bibliographical references and index isbn 0-7914-6435-0 hardcover alk paper 1 inönü ismet 1884­1973 political and social views 2 turkey politics and government 1918­1960 i title ii series dr592.i5v36 2005 320.956 09 044 dc22 2004014224 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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for pinar

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contents acknowledgments introduction ismet inönü and multi-party politics in turkish history one political discourse and reform in turkey two the election of ismet inönü as president kemalist hegemony and alternative definitions three war at home war abroad new terms of domination four new alliances and demands for change five the emergence of organized opposition six post-war international tensions and the expression of opposition seven the emergence of the democrat party the challenge and limits of organized opposition eight the confines of the cold war and the redefinition of kemalism nine multi-party politics and the defeat of democracy endnotes bibliography index ix 1 7 27 55 77 97 113 137 161 189 211 245 265

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acknowledgments i ve been working on this book for longer than ismet inönü was president of turkey and during that time many colleagues and friends have helped me in numerous obvious and subtle ways i thank selim ilkin and Özden toker for their patience their enthusiastic support of this project and for giving me access to materials in the inönü vakfi library i also thank donald quataert for his continuing support for my scholarship sevket ¸ pamuk metin heper and bob vitalis have all taken a special interest in various manifestations of my work and i ve had the pleasure of exchanging ideas and swapping stories with them about the people and events of this period of turkish history this work originated as a phd dissertation at the university of texas and i thank wm roger louis bob fernea gail minault hafez farmayan and sheldon ekland-olson for their support and suggestions i owe a debt of gratitude to lee avdoyan and chris murphy of the library of congress for their help with sources dan goffman has been most supportive of my work and i thank howard reed kemal karpat and doug howard for their interesting and useful input my colleagues and students at suny-new paltz have provided a cordial and collegial and stimulating atmosphere in which to work and larry hauptman has been a great advocate and guide over the years for their financial support my thanks go to the institute of turkish studies the harry frank guggenheim foundation the hoover institution united university professions and suny new paltz michael haggett and michael rinella of suny press deserve credit for their fine editorial support finally i am eternally grateful for the chance to know for all too brief a time three giants in the field roderic davison oral sander and dankwart rustow thanks pinar!

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introduction ismet inönü and multi-party politics in turkish history the presidency of ismet inönü 1938­50 developed amid the crises of world war ii and the cold war global economic and political transformation and economic and social change within turkey since the foundation of the turkish republic in 1923 the scope of political debate had been narrowly defined and participation in the political arena restricted to a limited group of participants who shared similar backgrounds experiences and views of the turkish nation its needs and its future as the republic s first prime minister during the presidency of mustafa kemal atatürk inönü had played a central role in shaping both the major political issues and the nature of political participation in turkey for both atatürk and inönü politicians and political debate were more obstacles than instruments to progress and advancement outcome was more important than process for both men but during world war ii and the cold war inönü found his government increasingly confronting demands to open up the political process to accept new and different voices into the political arena and to allow new discussion of old issues as well as the introduction of new issues a strong believer that caution and preparation were essential to avoid the irreparable mistakes of the young turk regime inönü had to balance demands from many in the ruling people s party for restriction and tighter control with demands from others within and outside the party to open debate on domestic and foreign affairs believing that the crisis of the war demanded greater central direction of all aspects of the economy and cur tailment of political debate for the sake of national unity inönü asserted his own authority as national chief president of the republic and permanent leader of the people s party but new forms of domination produced new 1

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2 the politics of turkish democracy forms of resistance and increasing numbers of politicians journalists landowners and private entrepreneurs and academics and technocrats representing the voices of different constituencies pushed political discourse beyond its previously allowed limits within the context of the presidency of ismet inönü it is then crucial to ask how did global and local changes lead to new types of struggles and what kind of antagonisms did the struggles express as a response to new types of limitations imposed by the turkish state also what kind of implications did these antagonisms have for the emergence and molding of democracy in turkey during the period since 1945 in the longer time frame of ottoman and turkish republican history the articulation of antagonism that reached a new level of struggle in the period of ismet inönü s presidency carried questions first raised during the late ottoman period continued by the young turks and brought into the republican period by the kemalists and their opponents on four major concerns 1 how to achieve economic development and what constitutes progress 2 what roles can and should the bureaucracy and the military play in economic and cultural affairs and in the electoral system 3 what are vital national interests and how should they be protected and 4 how can relations with the western powers particularly britain germany and russia and later the united states be established in such a way as to benefit turkey without compromising its sovereignty and independence in international affairs in the early republican period during the presidency of mustafa kemal atatürk politics were defined within the constraints of kemalism a set of ideological prescriptions regarding nationalism republicanism secularism populism reformism and statism that were embedded in the ruling people s party program even though it had its roots in the ideas of the young turks kemalism was proclaimed as a break from the ottoman past and as an ideology of progress for the new turkish republic thus the acceptability of any debate and any political actor was measured in reference to kemalism while struggles expressed antagonism emerging as a response to the dominant formulation of kemalism they also tended to develop in continuity with the ongoing implications of the young turks ideas and policies the single-party regime enforced a singular interpretation of past as well as future and antagonism developed between supporters of kemalist singularity and those who proposed alternative interpretations of the past or alternative visions for the future in contrast to the singularity of kemalist ideology opposition discourse reflected a multiplicity of views of past present and future as much as the

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introduction 3 dominant ideology is tied to political and economic conditions both at the state and the global level so are the contesting ideologies linked to the legitimization and delegitimization of the economic and political arrangements in specific state and global contexts thus from 1938 to 1950 alteration of economic conditions created contesting political voices representing different interpretations of change and progress in this period new interpretations emerged to question the moral validity of state-sponsored development the legal rational aspects of policies and the resulting systems of domination as kemalism developed within the perspective of monopoly capitalism in the 1920s and 1930s and as the power of the state and global capital generated new forms of domination during the period from 1938 to 1950 different expressions of resistance emerged but kemalism s focus on outcome rather than on process meant that alternative proposals also focused on outcome thus in turkey opposition to all or parts of the kemalist regime did not lead to a democratic process but rather to the incorporation of new hegemony with new personnel imposing their own agenda in the same way as their opponents reform during the period of inönü s presidency has not assured full participation in the economy and politics confrontation of social differentiation or freedom to express cultural plurality in effect it has resulted in the development of political systems separate from society fostering politics and society as two separate entities linked by the political domination of experts career politicians and the military in this context not only do bureaucrats and career politicians control political power but those who question the dominant ideology or group do so within the confines of a narrow discourse for the turkish people this means that the only way they can participate is through an unresponsive system or by challenging the system itself from the outside examples of the latter approach include communists and islamists during the decades of the cold war leftist alternatives were squashed after which the military took on the role of taming the islamists and forcing them to enter into the kemalist framework ismet inönü in turkish history and historiography as successor .to atatürk as president and permanent leader of the single ruling party ismet inönü played a pivotal role in defining the meaning and relevance of kemalism and deciding whether and how to perpetuate

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4 the politics of turkish democracy atatürk s legacy most historians have treated inönü s claim of continuity with atatürk as the logical and inevitable course of turkish history but history including ottoman history is replete with leaders who have disavowed their predecessors ideas and policies the appearance of continu ity between atatürk and inönü needs to be problematized to reach a more nuanced vision of turkish republican history mustafa ismet inönü 1884­1973 was born in izmir the son of an official in the ottoman bureaucracy after a highly successful military education he joined the ranks of ottoman officers who were discontented with the ottoman system and had become members of the secret committee of union and progress he served as an officer in yemen and in the balkan campaigns prior to world war i and while in yemen he contracted scarlet fever which left him nearly deaf and dependent on his famous hearing aid during world war i he served at the front with among others mustafa kemal and was promoted to colonel before returning to istanbul to take a position in the ottoman ministry of war when the war of independence began in 1919 inönü remained in istanbul but worked for the nationalist cause finally facing arrest he escaped to ankara in april 1920 during the rest of the war of independence he commanded the western front achieving major victories over greek forces in the two battles of inönü hence the family name he was later given by atatürk at the end of the war in 1922 ismet pasha as he was more commonly known throughout his later career led the nationalist delegation to negotiate first a cease-fire then a treaty recognizing turkish independence and sovereignty which was signed by the great powers at lausanne switzerland ismet pasha subsequently served twelve years as prime minister then twelve more as president he remained active as leader of the people s party and retained his seat in the national assembly during democrat party rule in the 1950s after the military coup of 1960 removed the democrat party from power inönü was asked to return as prime minister in 1961 he led three coalition governments and remained chair of the people s party until 1972 he remained an active force in turkish politics until his death the following year during an eight-decade long political career inönü participated in or influenced every major development in turkey s domestic and .international affairs yet in scholarly research and the popular imagination inönü has always existed in the shadow of mustafa kemal atatürk and inönü s presidency has been assessed within a framework that places atatürk at the center of turkish history this kemalocentric interpretation of turkish history was proposed by mustafa kemal himself in his six-day speech nutuk to a meeting of

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