Evaluation of the Relation Between Democracy and the Political Participation Over Türkiye

Political participation is one of the most defining features of democratic practices that date back to ancient Greece. In this way, people can both express their demands and expectations and have a say in the administration through political participation. However, political participation is not always at the desired level and may encounter some problems. Although these problems vary from country to country, they may have different reasons such as population structure, gender view, and management approaches. With the change in the understanding of democracy, the forms of political participation have also differed. For example, it does not seem possible that the direct democracy model implemented in ancient Greece can be used today, yet with some exceptions. The scale and population structure of countries no longer allow direct democracy practice. However, in ancient Greece, only free male citizens were given political participation. Slaves and women did not have any say. On the other hand, in today's democracies there is no discrimination between men and women. In this study, the relation between democracy and political participation is examined. The obstacles to political participation and democracy in Turkey in the 1980s are examined and it is concluded that political participation was blocked after the military coup, and that there was a struggle to open ways for political participation with the transition to democracy.