Referandums asa participation tool in democracy and influence of referendums on politics in Turkey

The perception of democracy in Turkey is concentrated on free-voting and referendums. In the tradition of direct democracy as one of the types of use of sovereignity, people have the right to vote freely for any thought that they want to. Democracy in Turkey, like countries having tendency for democratisation, has been having an important position in our political history. Elections as a need for democracy and referendums has been an indicator of how this process has proceeded in Turkey. Here in this study, referendums that ensures direct participation of people to politics as an important need for democracy. This institution which gives direct right to people has mostly been recognized as the affirmant institution under the roof of democracy. Within the scope of this approach, the legal borders of referendums are drawn and people have made their decisions in the direction of these borders. The state of the Republic of Turkey has conducted eight referendums during ninety-four years from 1923, the year it was founded, until 2017. First one was the 1961 Constitution followed by the 1982 Constitution Referendum, then 1987, 1988, 2007, 2010 and lastly the Constitutional Amendment Referendum for 18 provisions on the 16th April of 2017. Each and every referendum, with no doubt, has influenced the politics and this influence has been felt in different surfaces. Here in this thesis study, each referendum is analyzed seperately and at the same time their influences on politics are also evaluated. Moreover, in the thesis, the topic of referendums and plebiscites were also analyzed and the plebiscital process for the Hatay Province is explained too.