Turkish political elites

Abstract

This study was designed to find general characteristics of Turkish Parliamentary Elites. Social background characteristics were employed to realize the purposes. Documentary and historical research techniques (Bulmer, 1994) were used during the study. Two different data sets were created for analysis from the governmental publications and records and publications of the Turkish Grand National Assembly which is the main legislative organ in Turkey.
As a result of examining all the assemblies in the Turkish Republican period (since 1920 up to 1990’s) these major findings were discovered: The large majority of Turkish parliamentary elites were well educated, male, married, with a small family size and middle aged. Moreover the large majority of parliamentary elites were lawyers and civil bureaucrats. Turkish deputies have exhibited an elitist character as compared with Turkish society. Nevertheless, this elitist character has begun to change in recent years: a more differentiated development have begun.