Published judicial, cultural laws and contested for those laws at the first term of Turkish Grand National Assembly (23 April 1920-1 November 1922)

Young Turks (Jeunes Turcs) established in the year 1865 laid the foundation for the first serious opposition in Turkish political history. Another significant opposition movement within the historical process was also carried out by Jeunes Turcs.While opposition did not materialize due to the oppressive politics of the time of First Constitutionalism announced in 1876, the initiative of the Sultan was lessened by the amendment made to the First Constitution (Kanun-i Esasi) in 1909 and opposing views were more in the open with the first adoption of Multi-party regime in the Second Constitutionalist Period.First Term of Grand National Assembly established on April 23, 1920 comprised MPs from various parts of the country representing the people's will, the structure became more diverse and this led to the formation of groups with different views, but, due to the conditions of the period, the opposition could not act as a political party.From the day the Grand National Assembly was established, it was its aim to save the country from the state it was in and to encourage development in social, political, cultural and legal fields. However, different views and certain groups holding those views have emerged and faced each other in attempts to fulfill this aim.The First Group, the Society for the Defence of Rights (Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti) formed in the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha had its roots in Societies for the Defence of Rights which had branches and were active throughout the country and it was called the Independence Group (İstiklâl Grubu) and consisted of people with progressive and contemporary views.Another group in the Assembly was the Second Group which had no leader; and it consisted of people who were partially conservative but oppositional towards those in power. The fact that the members had different opinions regarding their own duties and responsibilities and in such issues as rights and freedom played a substantial role in the emergence of this group. Therefore, the atmosphere was as tense as it could be in negotiations for enactment of laws. It is clear to see that, in the period which the present study deals with, the opposition reached the highest level especially during the negotiations for enactment of the law on Independence Courts. Independence Courts established with extraordinary authority and the practices of these courts set the stage for major disputes between the ministerialist MPs and oppositional MPs.The oppositional MPs claimed that, with the enactment of the law on Independence Courts, they took hold of the powers of the Government. Such criticisms included the starting of unease in the Assembly and the oppositionals not disregarding the appointed members due to the affiliation of the courts directly to the Commander-in-Chief, designation of members by appointment instead of election and the decrees of the courts being outside the scope of inspection. But the Government rejected such claims and attitudes by the oppositionals on the grounds that it needed the activities carried out by the courts.During the negotiations for The Prohibition Law (Men'i Müskirat Kanunu) in its social-cultural aspects in the Assembly, the oppositional MPs also stated that the law must be evaluated in economic terms, such a decision would put the country in a difficult position financially, and the taxes collected from the alcoholic products constitute a great part of the revenues and they were in the opinion that the said text must be omitted. But the Government agreed to the prohibition of alcoholic products both legally and for the damage caused to the public.In the First Term of the Grand National Assembly, the opposition presented itself in a more concrete manner during the negotiations for military and political laws, yet it was observed that the oppositional views were only partially chanced upon during the negotiations for laws on the legal, social-cultural field.Keywords: TBMM (The Grand National Assembly) First Term, Legal and Social-Cultural Laws, Law Negotiations, the Opposition