Coming into power of DP ( 1945-1950 )

After the Second World War, Turkey was faced with the dilemma of becoming open to political and social demands that were believed to be potentially threatening for the regime before being able to institutionalize the self-defense mechanisms of the new political regime it was trying to establish. In this process, it had to both establish an international legitimacy and balance the authoritarian methods stemming from the newly-established republican regime.Therefore, in the multi-party system to be established, the political parties, which will operate within the political area defined by the existing regime, were acceptable. DP had sought legitimacy within this political area defined by the government and positioned itself within this area.In this study, due to the exigency brought by narrating a specific period, descriptive method prevails. However, the results that are reached have been tried to be addressed in combination with the analytical method. The academic studies, memoirs, newspapers of the period and the articles that are related to the subject have been examined. Although there are many memoirs and special studies on the subject, there are only few academic studies. It is difficult to say that the subject has been addressed academically in all aspects.The purpose of this thesis is to address the transition of Turkey into multi-party period, which has only been addressed in terms of political science and history until now, from a sociological perspective. In other words, what the politics-society relationship was in the political socialization process, and how it was shaped.While the relationship between politics and society had been unilateral and deterministic before the establishment of DP, after which this relationship transformed into a functional relationship representing the mutual interaction between the political institution and society.During the elections in 1946, the relationship between politics and society, for the first time, became direct with a change in the election law. In the elections of 1950, it seemed that the deficiencies and fallacies were eliminated. The secret vote, open sorting and the judiciary assurance brought to the elections gave a new shape to the relationship between politics and society. While having been passive and inactive within the political area, the society became an active political actor in the area of politics.This new political socialization process demonstrated itself as the existence of social sections interested more closely in politics, and the increase in the political participation. Therefore, it can be said that the Establishment and Coming into Power of DP signals the initiation of a new political culture and political socialization in the Turkish society.Although the political area was arranged according to the new internal and external conditions by RPP and DP, the change in the nature of the relationship between politics and society was one of the fundamental elements to affect the following process.In transition to multi-party system, DP was not the power possessing the change in itself. The new shape of the politics-society relationship required by the multi-party system it was in is seen to have been the basic bearer of the change. This is a result of a transition from the existing deterministic relationship between politics and society to a functional relationship mutually affecting each other.Key Words: Political area, Political socialization (between politics and society), deterministic /functional relationship.