Tracing Populism in Right Parties in Turkey

Abstract

We can define populism as the discursive style of an anti-elite ideological position that claims to put the people at the centre. Although it has right and left versions, it can be said that historically right-wing ideologies have a closer commonality with populism. Since the Turkish right has been quite decisive in the historical development of populism in Turkey, it is very important to analyse the journey of populism in Turkey through right-wing parties. Although the principle of ‘populism’, one of the Six Principle of the CHP, calls for populism, this principle cannot be characterised as populism due to the aims of this principle and the specific conditions of the period. The DP, who came to power in 1950, left a populist legacy to the right-wing parties that came after him, which were taken over by parties and their leaders such as AP, MSP/MNP/RP, MHP and ANAP, claiming to be the representatives of the nationalist, conservative and Islamist segments of the Turkish right. Since the right-wing parties in Turkey, claiming to act on behalf of the nation, have brought the effects of the religious, national, economic and cultural concerns of the people into the political arena with a populist style, tracing populism in these parties between 1950 and 2000 and revealing the forms of its use is very important in terms of showing political continuities.