The Need to Amend Turkish Legislation to Ensure Political Participat on in Turkey

The Turkish Constitution of 1982 states that political parties are indispensable elements of democratic political life. However many of the grounds for the prohibition and dissolution of political parties which are stated in the Law no. 2820 on Political Parties are incompatible with the law of the ECHR. In addition, the national election threshold of 10% which is stipulated in the Law no. 2839 on the election of members of the National Assembly is the highest of all the thresholds applied in Europe. The organizations such as the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the European Union call on Turkey to consider lowering it. In order to ensure political plurality and political participation in Turkey, the legislation such as the Law no. 2820 on Political Parties and the Law no. 2839 on the election of members of the National Assembly should be amended