Parliamentary questions in Turkey

Abstract

Political reasons for asking, and consequences of, parliamentary questions in the Turkish parliament during the 19th legislative period (1991–95) were investigated. Political reasons for asking questions were inferred from attributes of questions including the party affiliation of questioners, question content, referred authorities, and constituency linkages in questions. Political consequences were gauged by the substance of ministers’ answers. Our findings reveal that both opposition parliamentarians and government ministers have strategies or behavioural patterns for using parliamentary questions to enhance their own political appeal. Parliamentarians ask either blaming or soliciting questions. Blaming questions are more likely to be (i) of oral type; (ii) directed to the PM; (iii) unrelated to the constituency. Soliciting questions are more likely to be (i) of written type; (ii) directed to the responsible minister; (iii) related to the constituency. In turn, ministers are more willing to give positive, concrete, or promising answers to questions that either beg for help or a solution or pertain to particular constituencies.