Parliamentary Party Groups in Turkey: Subjects of Party Leadership Domination

Parliamentary party groups (PPGs), together with parliamentary committees, serve as the essential functional units of parliaments (Saalfeld and Strøm 2014). PPGs enhance the establishment of "responsible party governments," which are crucial for accountability in liberal democracies (Aldrich 1995). Secondly, PPGs assist MPs in achieving their objectives: re-election to parliament, impacting policy formulation, and gaining respect within the parliament (Mayhew 1974). Conceptual categories such as "party in the electorate," "party as organization," and "party in government" (Key 1955) play an important role in how the party works (Katz and Mair 1993). Notwithstanding its significance, the current comparative literature has neglected this subject (Heidar and Koole 2000). In Turkey, PPGs possess privileged status and rights in legislative processes, as well as in leadership roles within standing committees and the plenary, as stipulated by the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure. The closed-list electoral system and strong party discipline, often referred to as leadership dominance, provide little incentive for fostering personal initiative and voting. The party leadership serves as the crucial principal for MPs pursuing re-election, contingent upon the latter's deference to the PPG, which reciprocates its allegiance to the party leadership, including the central executive committee. This study analyzes how the regulatory framework has evolved historically over a century and its impact on PPGs' place and importance. Then it focuses on how PPGs work inside parliament and how they interact with party organizations outside of parliament regarding legislative agendas and the legislative process since 2002, which is when Turkey started facing a number of constitutional and institutional challenges. Lastly, it looks into how the relationship between the executive and the legislature affects the work of PPGs, especially when it comes to making and enforcing policies.