As per the 1982 constitution, Turkey is a multiparty republic with a national assembly elected every five years. The president serves a seven-year term and appoints the prime minister.
Main Political Issues
Islamic fundamentalism
In the municipal elections of 1994, the Islamic fundamentalist RP took 18% of the vote. The backers of the RP are mostly the poor of Turkey's urban slums. However, the RP's rise represents a growing challenge from below to the Westernizing secularist path that Turkey has been following since Atatⁿrk's rule. Whether the fundamentalists can be contained within the democratic framework is now a central issue in Turkish politics.
Kurdish separatists
Turkey's southeastern region has been the scene of a bitter civil war since 1984. Kurdish secessionists are led by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Thousands have died in conflict with the Turkish army. The PKK agreed to a cease-fire in 1993 and declared that they no longer wished for secession, but for recognition of Kurdish rights within Turkey. There is pressure on the government, which has spent $7 billion on containing the conflict, to reach a settlement.
Profile
In recent years, political parties have proliferated in Turkish politics. They encompass center, right and left, social democrat and extremes of neo-fascists, socialists and Islamic radicals. Party distinctions are often highly artificial and frequently have more to do with personalities than politics.
With Sⁿleyman Demirel's accession to the presidency in 1993, the leadership of the ruling center-right DYP was won by an ex-economics professor, Mrs. Tansu ╟iller, whose personal popularity helped lead the DYP to a narrow win in the 1994 elections. In practice, there is often little to distinguish the DYP from the second-largest party, ANAP. The DYP draws its support mainly from the small towns of Anatolia and the Aegean, while ANAP is strongly supported by Istanbul's business community.
Under former Prime Minister Turgut ╓zal, Muslim fundamentalists were allowed a greater voice in politics. However, should their popularity increase to the point where Turkey's pro-Western secularism is threatened, the army could once more step in to
