The 1961 Constitutional Referendum in Turkey
The 1961 referendum on the new constitution was the first referendum held in the history of the Turkish republic. However, no deeper analysis of this phenomenon has been conducted in the English-language academic literature. This paper undertakes that objective. The new constitution was drafted and adopted under anti-democratic conditions. The post-coup era was a missed opportunity for instituting a stronger democracy. The referendum was the last nationwide vote in which traditional actors played significant roles in determining voting behavior. The notables and major landowners of the under-developed provinces led the masses to vote in favor of the new constitution. Starting in 1965, politics in Turkey became ideology-centered and class-oriented, thus causing the influence of traditional actors to diminish. Although the campaign for votes to support the referendum dominated the political scene in 1961, the electorate showed its distance from the coup anyway.
Democratization from above in Response to the International Context: Turkey, 1945–1950
On 6 March 1995 the EU-Turkey Association Council took a decision regarding the inauguration of a customs union between the EU and Turkey, following the pattern set out in the Ankara Agreement of 1963 and the Additional Protocol of 1970. The Council's decision received the European Parliament's assent on 13 December 1995, enabling it to enter into force on 1 January 1996. Following the Association Council's customs union decision, the Turkish government has launched a series of democratizing and liberalizing reforms. It is apparent that the tactical goal of the Turkish government for initiating the reforms has been to persuade the European Parliament to give its consent to the Association Council's customs union decision. The government's strategic goal, on the other hand, has been to fulfill the necessary political conditions, such as those formulated in the June 1993 Copenhagen meeting of the European Council, of Turkey's qualification for full membership in the EU.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.