Political parties and forestry relations in Turkey’s general elections in 2015

Abstract

Political parties and forestry relations in Turkey’s general elections in  2015 Abstract:  Political parties have important roles in the political decision making process on identifying the demand for public goods and services. In this context, political parties have significant impacts on identification and implementation of forestry policies. Their election manifestos/declarations have statements on forests and forestry, which are important sources of information for those parties' forestry policies. In this study, election manifestos of 11 parties that participated in the general elections that took place on June 7, 2015 and November 1, 2015 in Turkey were studied. Data were analysed with “Document Analyses” and “Content Analyses”, then evaluated under eight titles. As a result of these assessments, the conclusion was that; there are significant differences between the parties' approaches to forests: some of them consider the forest not as an entity but as a source of income, developing populist discourses that are sure to appeal to the general public, through ambitious or impossible promises. It can also be said that the political parties fail to base their views on forests on reliable data. Keywords:  Forest property, 2B, forest policy, forest-public relations, environment and forest Turkiye’de 2015 yili genel secimlerinde siyasal partiler ve ormancilik iliskileri Ozet:  Siyasal karar alma surecinde kamusal mal ve hizmetlere olan talebin belirlenmesinde siyasal partiler onemli gorevler ustlenmektedir. Bu kapsamda partilerin, ormancilik politikalarinin belirlenmesinde ve uygulanmasinda onemli etkileri vardir. Siyasi partilerin secim bildirgelerinde/beyannamelerinde yer verdikleri ormanlar ve ormancilikla ilgili beyanlar, o partilerin ormancilik politikalarini ogrenmek icin onemli bir kaynaktir. Bu calismada 7 Haziran 2015 ve 1 Kasim 2015 tarihlerinde yapilan genel secimlere katilan 11 partinin secim bildirgeleri incelenmistir. Bu incelemeler sonucunda toplanan veriler “Belgesel Tarama” ve “Icerik Analizi” yontemleriyle analiz edildikten sonra sekiz baslik altinda degerlendirilmistir. Degerlendirmeler sonucunda; siyasi partilerin ormanlara yaklasimlari konusunda onemli farkliliklar oldugu, kimisinin ormanlara bir varlik degil de gelir getirecek bir kaynak olarak yaklastigi, halkin hosuna gidecek populist soylemler gelistirdigi, abartili veya yerine getiremeyecegi vaatlerde bulundugu gibi tespitler yapilmistir. Ayrica partilerin ormanlar hakkindaki goruslerini saglikli bilgilere dayandiramadiklari da soylenebilir. Anahtar Kelimeler:  Orman mulkiyeti, 2B, ormancilik politikasi, orman-toplum iliskileri, cevre ve orman Received (Gelis):  24.11.2015 -  Revised (Duzeltme):  22.12.2015 - Accepted (Kabul):  16.01.2016 Cite (Atif):  Atmis, E., Gunsen, H.B., 2016. Political parties and forestry relations in Turkey’s general elections in 2015.  Journal of the Faculty of Forestry Istanbul University  66(2): xxx-xxx. DOI: 10.17099/jffiu.xxxxx