ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the conflicts and divisions that have shaped the Turkish party system. The conflict between the state and supreme religious authority in Turkey, as a Muslim majority country, followed a different trajectory to that in Europe's Christian majority societies. Despite these differences from Europe, the origins of Turkish party politics can be traced back to its national revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Concepts related to the Kurdish community and Kurdishness appear more in the publications of left and center-left parties along with pro-Kurdish parties whereas, among the National Outlook tradition parties, only the Justice and Development Party and the Welfare Party appear to use the word 'Kurdish'. The Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, the Populist Party, the Social Democratic Populist Party and the Democratic Left Party were grouped at the secular end of the axis. In 2011, however, the party merges national unity with religious brotherhood.
