Approaches of Turkey and the EU to NGOs in the Solution of the Issue of Political Participation in Representative Democracy

In this article, the issue of participation of the civil society in the political sphere in the representative democracy is examined in view of the fact that the elections, which are considered to be the most important features of representative democracy, are not sufficient to ensure political participation. Within in this context, the role of NGOs in the solution of problems arising in representative democracy is evaluated and it is identified the difficulties in the participation of NGOs in the political and bureaucratic decision-making process in Turkey. The approaches of the EU to the role of the NGOs in the decision-making process and norms put forth in this field is handled because of Turkey’s candidacy for EU membership, it is tried to reveal the approaches of Turkey and EU to NGOs related to the political participation. As a result, it is emphasized that overcoming the issue of political participation of Turkey is inevitable for further development of Turkish democracy in the long term