‘Warranty Certificate’ of the Multi-Party Political Life in Turkey: A Discourse Analysis of the July 12 Declaration

With the addition of domestic developments to the world equations that changed after the World War II, the transition to multi-party political life in Turkey began. One of the most important events in this process is the July 12 Declaration published by President ？smet ？n？nü. The declaration read on the radio on July 11 was given to the press one day later and took its place in our political life as the July 12 Declaration. The declaration issued in a period when the relations between the ruling party and the opposition were tense and the multi-party political life was in a stalemate is almost a "warranty certificate" of the multi-party political life. The declaration which was created by ？n？nü upon a series of meetings with the ruling party and opposition representations earned its place in our history of democracy with its periodical messages. The declaration has a prescription for the continuity of multi-party political life. When judged by the historical context, the preeminence of the declaration emerges. As a result of the analysis, the declaration includes messages for both the opposing party and the government. Also, it may be claimed that it consolidates the authority and supports multi-party political life. This study accordingly aims to explain the declaration within the political and historical context. The explanation was made using the discourse analysis which is a qualitative research method