A contemporary analysis of intra-party democracy in Turkey's political parties

Abstract

Despite Turkey's long-standing history of inter-party democracy, its political parties have remained distant from intra-party democracy (IPD). This study investigates the quality and level of Turkey's four big parties' IPD culture with a systematic, quantitative survey data collected from parties' district members in 2015. The data analysis demonstrates that despite its anti-systemic left-radicalism and alleged association with the armed groups, the Kurdish left (HDP) is relatively the most internally democratic party. The centre-left CHP has some edge owing to its limited use of primaries for candidate selection, yet it often comes secondary after the HDP. The two parties of the Turkish-Islamic right, AKP and MHP, are relatively more autocratic, sometimes indistinguishable. Despite the overwhelming effects of the failed coup and the system change with the 2017 referendum, the birth of new splinter parties such as the Good Party (IYI), Future Party and DEVA still points to potential future in-party dynamics that can help improve the IPD culture in Turkey.