Second men in Turkish political life

This thesis deals with the second men of the Turkish political leaders. In other words, the main reason for the preparation of the thesis is to answer the question "Who is the second?" specific to the leaders in Turkish political life. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to determine the second men of the Turkish leaders and discuss the concept of the second men's profile by examining the prominent leaders and leaders' cadres throughout the Republican period of Turkish political life within the scope of political science. In this context, the thesis begins with defining the concept of the second men. Afterward, it discusses the factors claimed to have an impact on the position of the second men in Turkish political life. Based on the arguments here, it examines the leading cadres of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, Celal Bayar, Süleyman Demirel, Necmettin Erbakan, Bülent Ecevit and Turgut Özal and asks who correspond the on the concept of the second man from these cadres. In this thesis, which was prepared with qualitative research methods, data were collected by document analysis technique. The collected data were analyzed descriptively. Finally, it has reached the following results: the name of the second men of the leaders in Turkish political life, not every leader has a second man, the structural features of Turkish political life are determinant of the second men's positions, and a profile can be drawn about second men in Turkish political life. Keywords: Political Science, Turkish Political Life, Political Leaders, Second Men.