The state of political rights in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to determine the current state of political rights in Turkey. It is well known that Turkey nowadays is living a transition period which can essentially be defined as a transformation from the authoritarian regime to a liberal one. As is clear Turkey has been aspiring since more than 200 years to become a European country. This end arises at the moment in terms of becoming a part of the European Union. Countries wishing to become a member of the European Union have to fulfill some conditions determined by the legislative and executive organs of the European Union, such as democratization, respect for human rights etc. Nevertheless Turkey's current legal structure is basically determined in an authoritarian manner by the National Security Council in the period of the military regime which consisted of five chiefs of the armed forces. The legal system created by them is the major obstacle by the integration of Turkey with European Union. Although trying to conform to the European standards, Turkey has a long way to go.