The rise and decline of center right parties in Turkey

Political parties have always played a significant place in world politics as well as country politics ever since the transition to democracy. Political parties have been deployed according to developments and changing movements in world politics, as their internal politics are shaped in conformity to these relevant movements in world. As there are new political parties emerging with the influence of ideological movements, it has recently been observed that many already existing parties have gone through a process of transformation and started to develop policies that are pretty much in parallel to ideologies preponderating world politics. While world politics and ideologies dominating the world are significant factors affecting features of political parties, another noteworthy factor is political culture of citizens in a given country. Political culture is one of the most important factors shaped according to behaviors of political parties, electorate and candidates in a country and it has a major influence on political parties. As a result of political culture citizens of a country develop with the effect of the geography, political parties are often required to define themselves in accordance with that political culture. Consequently, political parties emerge or transform with common features pertaining to political culture of the relevant country, developments in world politics and accepted ideology. Center right parties have emerged as a result of an intersection of these three factors, as well. Although center right parties exhibit common features, their features are variable and depend on a given country. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the general features of center right parties. Along with this, answers will be sought for the following questions: What are the features of center right parties in Turkey? How center right parties have developed in Turkey? Which parties in the Grand Turkish National Assembly identifying themselves as center right exhibit features of center right parties, indeed? What is the time range for the rise and collapse of center right parties in Turkey? Key words: Center Right, Turkish Political Life, Political Parties, Center Right Parties in Turkey