Elections and political life in Rize 1938-1960

Turkish politics became acquainted with the concept of the election with the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire declared in 1878, and in the Second Institutional Era, they became acquainted with the concept of the political party. However, there were no political parties in the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, which was established in 1920 with the national will and ensured the successful completion of the Turkish War of Independence. With the proclamation of the Republic of Türkiye on October 29, 1923, political parties, which are the necessity of the concept of a republic, also started to be established. The Republican People's Party was the first political party in the Republic of Türkiye, founded in 1923, and they ruled the country, staying in power until 1950. The period between 1923 and 1946 is called the One-Party Period. In 1946, with the newly established National Development Party and the Democrat Party, it started a multiparty life. This thesis consists of two parts and focuses on the political life and elections in Rize during the transition from the period of the National Chief to the multi-party period. In the first part, the reflections of the transition to multi-party life in Rize and the relations between the political parties established in Rize and these parties are mentioned. In the second part, while the general and local elections held in Rize were examined, information was given about the backgrounds of the political figures of Rize. The main sources of the thesis are the Republic Archive of the Presidency of the State Archives of the Republic of Türkiye, the Archives of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, the Archive of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye and the Rize local newspapers of the period obtained from the National Library, the records of the Turkish Statistical Institute and research works related to the subject.