Being an Opposition MP in the 22nd Turkish Parliament

• Main Author: Canan Aslan-Akman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association pour la Recherche sur le Moyen-Orient 2015-03-01
• Series: European Journal of Turkish Studies
• Subjects: bills; consensus; government; opposition; legislative process
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/ejts/500

This article analyzes the role and strategy of the main opposition (CHP) party’s MPs, their perceptions of their roles, their place in the legislative process and their relationship with their party in the 22nd Turkish Grand National Assembly. In multi-party Parliaments characterized by moderate to high levels of partisan competition, understanding the role of the opposition MPs calls for locating and analyzing three major constraints: the informal norms between the majority and the opposition, the place of the opposition MPs in the legislative process, and party discipline. In this context, a major question to be answered is whether there is a space where MPs can act as individuals in Parliament.