The transformation of conservatism in Turkey

Conservatism, has emerged as a reaction to ground-breaking events in the history of the world in different countries and at different times. This thesis firstly describes the historical background of the idea of conservatism. Then, it discusses the transformation in conservatism in Turkey. The first section of the thesis explains the meaning of conservatism and its components in detail. This section also focuses on the types of conservatism, which emerged through the result of the enlightenment ideology and the French Revolution in the West. Finally, the fundamentals of conservatism are explained. The second section of the thesis investigates conservatism in Turkey through a periodical discussion from the foundation of the Republic of Turkey to the present time. The third section, called the transformation of conservatism in Turkey, offers a comparison between the political parties that are influential in the transformation of conservatism in Turkey. Afterwards, to what extent conservatism in Turkey has had a transformation in a periodic time is analysed. After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the existence of conservative thought is widely accepted but, it cannot be said that it has a strong presence in the political arena until the multi-party period. However, when the Democrat Party came to power, this static structure was revived. The evolution of conservatism by the Democrat Party was transformed into the new right through the ANAP and emerged neo-conservatism with the concept of conservative democracy in the terms of the AK Party.