LIBERAL DISCOURSE AND POLICIES IN AK PARTY GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS: 2002-2015 PERIOD

Abstract

Turkey was governed by a parliamentary government system from the enactment of the 1876 Constitution until the elections of 24 June 2018 (except for the 1921 Constitution, which corresponds to a very short period). In parliamentary systems of government, the prime minister, who heads the government, is a member of the legislature and is the person charged with forming the government. The Prime Minister usually prepares or has a government program prepared in order to fulfill his mandate to form the government. If this government program can get a vote of confidence from the legislature, the government is formally formed. In this process, which expressed the formula of forming a government in Turkey until recently, the government programs presented by the prime ministers to the legislature are of great importance. Because the government programs submitted to a vote of confidence are a kind of compass of the governments and it is expected that policies will be developed in accordance with the principles and promises set forth in the aforementioned program during the term of office. The four government programs (Abdullah Gül's Government and three different Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Governments) aiming at realizing various reforms, expanding fundamental rights and freedoms, and reaching the criteria of the European Union, especially in the first years of the AK Party, which has been in power in Turkey since November 3, 2002, It draws attention in terms of giving place to discourse and policies. This study aims to reveal the traces of liberalism ideology in the claims, policies and discourses of the first four government programs of the AK Party. The main argument of this study is that the AK Party, which defined itself as a conservative democrat in the aforementioned period and frequently emphasized the conservative democratic identity in government programs, was closer to a liberal democratic identity at that time.