But it has since witnessed many ups and downs.
The democratic process was interrupted several times by direct military interventions or indirect military interferences--the strong Jacobin state structure started to be dismantled only in the 1980s under the late Turgut Ãzal who, as Prime Minister and subsequent President of the Republic, liberalized and reformed the economy and the state bureaucracy.
Despite still-existing deficiencies, one of the strong points of the Turkish democracy is its well-designed electoral procedures.
The latest election, which took place on June 12, confirmed this once again. More than 40 million people from Istanbul and all cities in Turkey, went to the polling stations with practically no irregularity reported, and the computed results started to be announced only one hour after voting ended.
The winner was the Justice and Development Party (AKP), a conservative party deeply attached to religious values that has been in power since 2002.
It won almost 50 percent of the votes and 326 of the 550 seats in the parliament and, thus, became the majority party again.
The People's Republican Party (CHP), which defines itself not very convincingly as a social democratic party, came in second, with nearly 26 percent of the votes and 135 seats in the parliament. The nationalist party (MHP) got 13 percent of the votes and 53 seats, while the BDP representing almost exclusively the Kurdish population obtained 36 seats.
One of the main issues to be tackled by the political parties once the parliament starts functioning will be the drafting of a new constitution. This will be an awesome task since the views of the parties differ widely on some crucial constitutional principles.
The AKP was hoping to get 367 seats in the parliament, which would have enabled AKP to single-handedly adopt a new constitution. Alternatively, if it had obtained at least 330 seats, it could have drafted a constitution and submit it to a referendum for approval by the people.
The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was hoping, through one of these methods, to abolish the present parliamentary system and replace it with a presidential system, which would have enabled him to become President of the Republic with wide executive powers. Now, with only 326 votes, he can no longer achieve his aim without the support of the opposition, which has no intention of facilitating his far-reaching objectives.
There are several articles in the present constitution adopted in 1982 that are extremely controversial.
In particular, the Kurds believe that some of the wording has inherently racial connotations; CHP is strongly opposed to the modification of some articles, which they consider almost sacrosanct because, in their view, they enunciate the fundamental philosophy of the Republic created by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.
A new constitution is not the only issue that will challenge the new parliament and government. The "Kurdish problem" will also remain extremely critical.
Democracy cannot flourish and sustainable stability cannot be achieved as long as the PKK terrorism continues and the Kurdish population considers that its cultural identity is not fully recognized.
On the other hand, it should be clear to the Kurds that any erosion of the existing unitary state system--any arrangement for regional autonomy--will never be accepted. However, some decentralization encompassing the entire country could be envisaged while maintaining the exclusive responsibility of the central government in crucial areas, such as internal and external security. In this respect, the regional system of France could serve as a model.
The elections took place a time when the world's attention was focused on what is called the "Arab Spring" in North Africa and the Middle East. This is a spring accompanied by violent storms, and Turkey is particularly affected by them.
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