Relations between Political Parties and Forestry in 2011 General Elections

Abstract

Political parties are voted into office in order to reflect the general will of the electorate into the political arena. Parties are of primary importance in almost every modern society no matter what the political system is. In Turkey, political parties, particularly the parties in power, have important effects on the formulation of forestry policy. The approach that political parties are likely to take in relation to forestry can be learned from the declarations that they publish prior to elections. This study examines the election declarations published by 15 different parties that participated in the election on 12th June 2011. The findings are analyzed and evaluated in relation to nine different headings. The study shows that even though the 2011 election declarations of political parties include more information about forestry than in previous declarations, their opinions about forestry are not based on consistent policies.