Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism. Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state. Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Its current constitution was adopted on November 7, 1982 after a period of military rule, and enshrines the principle of secularism. Since 1950, parliamentary politics has been dominated by conservative parties. Turkey's official name is the Republic of Turkey, its government has 550 members of the legislative branch, the Grand National Assembly, representing 81 provinces. Women didn't have almost any civil rights before the 1920s. Thanks to Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, who believed in the necessity of complete equality between women and men, all the political rights considered to be the foundation of citizenship rights were recognized for women in Turkey in a very short period of time. Women in Turkey obtained the right to vote and be elected in municipal elections in 1930 and in parliamentary elections in 1934. Prior to that date, the number of countries where women had the right to vote and be elected as members of parliament was 28 and the number of countries where women actually were elected as members of parliament was 17. When it is taken into consideration that women obtained the right to vote in 1944 in France, in 1945 in Italy and in 1948 in Belgium, it appears that Turkey was way ahead compared with many countries. The principle of the equality of women-men has been adopted in the Constitution and in the laws of Turkey. The equal treatment of women-men within the legal framework was provided by the adoption of the Swiss Civil Code. Only recently, it has been realized that some of the decrees are insufficient for today's society. A commission formed by the Ministry of Justice, of the professors of civil law, has been authorized to prepare a draft bill which is sensitive to gender, which takes into consideration the amendments made in the laws related to the family in European countries, and also international agreements sign- ed by the Republic of Turkey. The Commission completed its studies and announced the new Turkish Civil Draft Bill on 17 February 1998. The most important changes envisaged through this proposal are as follows: establishing equality for both genders in terms of marriageable age by raising such age to 17 for both sexes, the joint representation of marital unity by both of the partners, joint decision-making regarding the couples residence and the opportunity for equal ownership of all assets procured during the span of marriage, removal of the act of adultery from the Penal Law, the right to use the maiden name before the husband's name and the right to work without permission of the husband.
What about checks & balance?:
The constitution, which brought for the first time a full text of civil and political rights under constitutional protection along with an improved system of checks and balances in Turkish history, was approved by a referendum held on 10 October 1961. With the establishment of the first Court of Constitution that created a new paradigm shift by scrutinizing the parliamentary rulings as the "checks" organ in 1961 and the addition of a Senate to the parliament, the Turkish Grand National Assembly was re-opened after the general elections, nominated and voted Cemal Gürsel as the fourth president of Turkey.
Repression:
According to Turkish military records, Kurdish rebellions have been taking place in Anatolia for over two centuries. The main rebellion which dominates the history of the Kurds in Turkey is that of the 1925 rebellion in Kurdistan region of Turkey which was led by Sheikh Said. The repression and aggression of Kemalist secularism followed and all public manifestations of Kurdish identity was outlawed which, in turn, prepared Kurds for more rebellion.
