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Last reviewed: 27 January 2009

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HISTORY

Recent History

In 1923, following the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) founded the Republic of Turkey and became Turkey's first President. His aim was to transform Turkey into a modern, secular state which could compare with Western European nations in terms of military and economic strength. Today, Turkey is a member of almost every Western European international organisation, joining the Council of Europe in 1949;NATO in 1952; and achieving full candidate status for European Union membership in 1999.

The Turkish military regards itself as the main guardian of the principles of Atatürk's legacy, even to the point of intervening directly to restore political stability in 1960, 1971 and most recently in 1980. In September 1980 the Turkish military took power following a breakdown of law and order under a succession of weak and divided coalition governments. General Evren, Chief of the General Staff, became Head of State and President of the National Security Council (NSC)- an advisory body consisting of the President, Prime Minister, other key ministers and senior members of the military. Under martial law, they clamped down on civil liberties in order to maintain stability and developed a timetable for the restoration of an elected government. In 1982 a new Constitution was adopted. Turgut Özal replaced Evren as President in 1989 modernising the Turkish economy and raising Turkey's international standing.

In May 1993 Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel was elected President. Mrs Tansu Çiller, previously Economics Minister, was elected to replace Demirel as Chairman of the True Path Party (DYP) in June 1993 and thus became Turkey's first female Prime Minister.

In June 1996 Necmettin Erbakan became Prime Minister when his Refah party formed a coalition with the DYP. However, Refah's ideology led to friction with the NSC who feared that the new government might take steps to undermine Turkey's secular state and western orientation. Largely as a result of sustained pressure from the NSC Erbakan resigned. Bulent Ecevit’s Democratic Left Party (DSP) benefited most from the political upheaval that followed, forming coalitions first with the Motherland Party (ANAP) alone, then with both the ANAP and DYP.

The general and local elections in Turkey of April 1999 brought to power a coalition of the DSP, ANAP and Devlet Bahceli's Nationalist Action Party (MHP), with Bulent Ecevit remaining as Prime Minister. Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former Head of Turkey's Constitutional Court, was elected President of Turkey in May 2000.

The government began a programme of constitutional and economic reforms in its first year in office, particularly those needed to take forward Turkey's EU candidacy. Concerns about the government's ability to implement these reforms, in addition to a corruption scandal, led to a period of economic crisis in February 2001.

The Prime Minister responded by appointing Kemal Dervis, a former World Bank vice president, as Economy Minister. Turkey secured new loans from the IMF and the World Bank in 2001 and 2002 to fund a series of economic and structural reforms as well as restoring macroeconomic stability and providing budgetary support.

However, signs of tension within the coalition continued and Ecevit's failure to resign on health grounds in May 2002 led to the resignations of more than sixty DSP deputies and several Ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.

These resignations combined with growing pressure from both opposition parties and DSP's coalition partners, led to the Turkish Parliament's decision to hold early elections on 3 November 2002. In the elections, only the socially conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) crossed the 10% threshold needed to return MPs to parliament.

Despite the AKP victory their chairman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, could not take office as Prime Minister because of a conviction for ‘inciting religious hatred’ for remarks made in a speech in 1998, which banned him from standing for election to Parliament. As a result his deputy, Abdullah Gul, became PM instead. However in March 2003, Parliament passed a constitutional amendment that annulled his ban enabling him to be elected to Parliament and take over as Prime Minister, with Gul as Foreign Minister.

Key issues that have dominated the AKP's political agenda since their 2002 election include: Iraq, EU accession, Cyprus, the economy and Kurdish separatists. In November 2003, the Turkish government also had to deal with four major terrorist attacks in Istanbul which targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate-General and the HSBC bank.

BBC News Country Timeline: Turkey

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Contacts

Turkey

Address:

Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
43 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8PA


Consulate General
Rutland Lodge
Rutland Gardens
London SW7 1BW

 

Telephone:

(020) 7393 0202 (Switchboard)
(020) 7393 0222 (Ambassador's Office)
020 7235 1959 (Military)
(020) 7235 6968 (Press)
(020) 7235 4991 (Commercial)
(020) 7235 2743 (Economic)
(020) 7245 6318 (Financial & Customs)
(020) 7839 7778 (Cultural and Information)
(020) 7724 1511 (Education)
(020) 7823 1632 (Religious Affairs)
(020) 7591 6900 (Consulate General)

Fax:

(020) 7393 9213 (Ambassador's Office)
(020) 7393 0066 (Chancery)
(020) 7591 6922 (Consulate General)


Email: turkish.emb@btclick.com
Email: turkishconsulate@btconnect.com

 

Website: www.turkishembassylondon.org
Website: www.turkishconsulate.org.uk

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