This article aims to trace conceptual history of Turkish liberalism in post-war Turkey. The transition from a multinational empire to a nation-state in 1923 and from one-party era to multi-party era in 1946 forms a radical transformation in Turkish political history. There is still heated debate among scholars as to whether there was continuity or rupture in, both, the establishment of the Republic and the transition to democracy. Bearing in mind the architects of the Republic belonged to the cadres of Young Turks, who acquired their experience of politics during the late Ottoman era, the transitions from empire to nation-state, from monarchy to republic, from theocracy to a laicist/secular state and society, seem sufficient reasons to strengthen the claims for change.[1] The gradual transition to democracy, culminating in the peaceful removal from power of the Republican People’s Party (RPP), also, embraces a break-up from the past in the sense that, in contrast to the Republican period, this was an era of genuine democratic pluralism and the growth of mass politics. Transition to democracy, establishment of the liberal opposition party, Democrat Party (DP) and the ruling era of 1950-1960, have been studied by various scholars from different perspectives, depending on the ideological stance. RPP opponents, criticize the Kemalist era due to the authoritarian measures in advocating secularism and Westernization and see DP era as the turning point in Turkish political history, in freedom of religious practices, freedom of speech and democratization. Whereas, RPP supporters see this era as beginning of the elimination of the Kemalist regime, in the sense that DP era was characterized by the political and military integration of Turkey into the Western alliance, growing financial dependence on the US and downgrading of the secularist tendencies. In spite of the various sources about this contested era of DP, this era has not been studied by conceptual history tools. My aim is to explore development of concept of liberalism in Turkey in post-war era, in accordance to Reinhart Koselleck’s two key terms: Space of experience and horizon of expectation.
