Whose agenda moves? Party composition and an apparent ‘regime turn’ in Turkish parliamentary questions (2002–2026)

When a democracy erodes from within, the opposition’s questions to government can seem to swing away from everyday policy and toward the defence of the rule of law itself. But does the opposition really move as one? Drawing on 262,816 written parliamentary questions filed in Turkey between 2002 and 2026, sorted into eighteen issue areas by a validated Turkish-language classifier, we trace how the agenda recomposes party by party. In the aggregate the expected turn appears: security recedes, rights climb. Yet the shift is predominantly compositional: the HDP, later DEM, enters parliament and grows in weight while becoming more rights-focused, whereas the main opposition party, present throughout, remains stable. Pooling the opposition makes a concentrated, predominantly compositional change appear opposition-wide; party-level analysis dissolves the appearance of a shared behavioural turn.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Legislative Studies
Published
2026-09-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2026.2732585
Primary Topic
Turkey's Politics and Society
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Whose agenda moves? Party composition and an apparent ‘regime turn’ in Turkish parliamentary questions (2002–2026)

Serdar Gülener
Journal of Legislative Studies
Turkey's Politics and Society
article

Whose agenda moves? Party composition and an apparent ‘regime turn’ in Turkish parliamentary questions (2002–2026)

Serdar Gülener
article en

Abstract

When a democracy erodes from within, the opposition’s questions to government can seem to swing away from everyday policy and toward the defence of the rule of law itself. But does the opposition really move as one? Drawing on 262,816 written parliamentary questions filed in Turkey between 2002 and 2026, sorted into eighteen issue areas by a validated Turkish-language classifier, we trace how the agenda recomposes party by party. In the aggregate the expected turn appears: security recedes, rights climb. Yet the shift is predominantly compositional: the HDP, later DEM, enters parliament and grows in weight while becoming more rights-focused, whereas the main opposition party, present throughout, remains stable. Pooling the opposition makes a concentrated, predominantly compositional change appear opposition-wide; party-level analysis dissolves the appearance of a shared behavioural turn.

Journal of Legislative Studies
Bursa Uludağ Üni̇versi̇tesi̇ (TR)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Turkey's Politics and Society
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Whose agenda moves? Party composition and an apparent ‘regime turn’ in Turkish parliamentary questions (2002–2026) — Serdar Gülener · Journal of Legislative Studies (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS