Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE RECENT PAST
Under the presidency of economist Turgut Özal, the 1980s saw a free-market-led economic
and tourism boom in Turkey and its major city. Özal's government also presided over a
great increase in urbanisation, with trainloads of peasants from eastern Anatolia making
their way to İstanbul in search of jobs in the booming industrial sector. The city's infra-
structure couldn't cope back then and is still catching up, despite three decades of large-
scale municipal works being undertaken.
The municipal elections of March 1994 were a shock to the political establishment, with
the upstart religious-right Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) winning elections across the coun-
try. Its victory was seen in part as a protest vote against the corruption, ineffective policies
and tedious political wrangles of the traditional parties. In İstanbul Refah was led by Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan (b 1954), a proudly Islamist candidate. He vowed to modernise infrastruc-
ture and restore the city to its former glory.
In the national elections of December 1996, Refah polled more votes than any other
party (23%), and eventually formed a government vowing moderation and honesty. Em-
boldened by political power, Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and other Refah politi-
cians tested the boundaries of Turkey's traditional secularism, alarming the powerful Na-
tional Security Council, the most visible symbol of the centrist military establishment's role
as the caretaker of secularism and democracy.
In 1997 the council announced that Refah had flouted the constitutional ban on religion
in politics and warned that the government should resign or face a military coup. Bowing to
the inevitable, Erbakan did as the council wished. In İstanbul, Mayor Erdoğan was ousted
by the secularist forces in the national government in late 1998.
National elections in April 1999 brought in a coalition government led by Bülent
Ecevit's left-wing Democratic Left Party. After years under the conservative right of the
Refah Partisi, the election result heralded a shift towards European-style social democracy,
something highlighted by the country's successful bid to be accepted as a candidate for
membership of the European Union.
Unfortunately for the new government, there was a spectacular collapse of the Turkish
economy in 2001, leading to its electoral defeat in 2002. The victorious party was the mod-
erate Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), led by phoenix-
like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who - despite continuing tensions with military hard-liners -
has run an increasingly stable and prosperous Turkey ever since. In İstanbul, candidates
from the AKP have been elected into power in most municipalities, including the powerful
Fatih Municipality, which includes Eminönü. The current AKP-endorsed mayor of İstan-
