Power-opposition relations in Turkey according to the 1947 press

With the transition to the multi-party system, it has been seen that serious articles on the relations of power and opposition were published in the press. Although the pressures of the single-party government on the press were relatively removed between the years 1945 and 1946, when the criticism of the opposition intensified, the desire to control the press emerged. The decisions taken by the Democratic Party in its First Great Congress and its efforts to implement these decisions put the power-opposition relations into a tense phase. The role of the pressure that the Prime Minister Recep Peker tried to establish on the Democratic Party in this tense phase was undeniably great. The Democratic Party acted more aggressively against the policies of Recep Peker. The publication of the 12 July Declaration, the resignation of Peker's Government and the establishment of Hasan Saka's Government paved the way for the detente period in the power-opposition relations. Although a detente in the power-opposition relations began to be seen relatively in the press until the end of 1947, the Democratic Party's accusation of the Government of Republican People's Party not wanting to implement the 12 July Declaration, their saying that the bill in the 1948 budget negotiations held in late 1947 was insufficient, and their harsh criticism and voting against the budget put the power-opposition relations into a tense phase again. The events such as the economic problems that emerged after the war, mutual accusations of communism, elections, the visits of the power and opposition leaders within the country, Soviet demands, American aid, the 12 July Declaration, the dismissal of some of the deputies, and the effects of the unjust behavior of the administrators who were closely connected to the single-party rule to the opposition people shaped the political life of 1947. When the press of 1947 has been examined in detail, it has been seen that the pro-power and pro-opposition press wrote articles criticizing each other in the political events in the country, while they had common thoughts on issues related to foreign policy in general. In this study, the newspapers Akşam, Ulus, Tasvir, Cumhuriyet, Son Posta, Vatan, Vakit, Türk Dili, Türkyolu, Türk Sözü, Yeni Sabah, Zonguldak, Hergün and Çorum were examined and the effects of both the pro-power and the pro-opposition press on the politics of the country were revealed. In order to prove the accuracy of the news in the press and to provide detailed information on the issues that the press lacked, the Parliamentary Minutes and the documents of the Prime Ministry Republic Archive were also used. Keywords: Power, Opposition, Budget, 12 July Declaration, Democratic Party