In-party democracy in Turkey

Political parties have become irreplaceable components of democracy even though the appearance of political parties in real terms is quite new compared to the concept democracy. In-party democracy means the implementation of democratic rules within the party. In other words, there must be democratic executions within the party in which opinions are shared freely without any pressure and dominance of any person or groups. The parties which come into power have to execute the similar type of democratic structure which they will put into practice throughout the country in their internal affairs. This study was carried out to investigate whether there is a democratic process within the parties in terms of their internal organizations, nomination methods for general elections, decision-making and execution processes or not. During this investigation, the factors that affect the in-party democracy and the items that affect the democratic in-party functioning from the Political Parties Law were dealt with. At the same time, the items which affect the in-party democracy existing in the constitution of Justice and Development Party (AKP), Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were compared. Consequently, oligarchic tendencies and leader's domination are observed when the internal organizations of the political parties in our country. So as to prevent this, the Constitutional Court must project a pecuniary enforcement for the parties in terms of opposition to the principles of in-party democracy and primary elections must be obligated during the nomination process for members of parliament in the Political Parties Law. The constitutional rights which provide the party leaders who are in power with autarchy within the party must be reregulated. For example, the Prime Minister's authority to define the ministers make the members of parliament to become blind obedient to the Prime Minister for becoming a minister. At the same time, period limitation must be put into practice for the political party leaders when they are considered unsuccessful.