Turkish Political Elites

This book aims to analyse the historical roots of the Turkish democratic system and the Turkish political elites in the Republican period (since 1920 up to 2000’s). After a very brief information about contemporary Turkey, the political development of Turkey and an evaluation of Turkish Democracy will be discussed. Also, some information about Kemalist Turkish Revolution and Kemalism, which have shaped contemporary Turkish society will be given. Folloving the chapter of general conceptual and theoretical background, an extensive analysis and discussion about the social anatomy of Turkish political elites and Turkish political leaders will be provided. This section consists five chapters. The large majority of Turkish parliamentary elites were well educated, male, married, with a small family size and middle aged. Moreover the large majority of parliamentary elites were lawyers and civil bureaucrats. Turkish deputies have exhibited an elitist character as compared with Turkish society. Nevertheless, this elitist character has begun to change in recent years.