Is Turkey a Democracy?

This is the first in a multi-part analysis in which I shall attempt to prove my theory as to the status of democracy in the Republic of Turkey. In this portion, I will lay out a brief history of the electoral system and the basic principles of democracy and voting in the Republic.

Turkey is a parliamentary republic established in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the First World War. The Young Turk movement, involving a young, forward-thinking man named Mustafa Kemal, gained favor and laid the groundwork for a democracy. Prior to the movement of Kemal, there was hardly a concept of Turkey, or even being Turkish. However, following literally millenia of empirial affiliation, Kemal established a sense of national consciousness, which was unique in the Islamic World for years.

Women in Turkey gained the right to vote in 1930, decades before women in Canada, Portugal, and Switzerland were granted the same provisions. Additionally, free and fair elections occured beginning in 1950. However, to truly understand a debate on Turkey's status as a democracy, it is prudent to discuss the clash between secular centrists and right-wing Islamists and Nationalists.

The entire premise by which Kemal's political processes established a democratic system was an absence of Islam in public life. Turkish, which had been scripted in Arabic style, became a Latinized language. Arabic words and idioms were forcably removed from the Turkish lexicon; the display or adornment of the fez and burqa were banned in public; and most importantly, Islam was banned from government. Not only were Islamist parties excluded from the process, but shariya (Islamic law) was absent from Turkish legal codes. Even still, shariya is the guiding principle in the laws of most Islamic states.

_____________
End Part 1

I am trying to keep them short (read: digestible), as this isn't exactly the most rich or entertaining material. However, the next installment will mention the results of the first few elections, military intervention, human rights, and the rise of Islamist factions.

Cheers.