The geography of the April 1999 Turkish elections

This article focuses on the geographical distribution of electoral support across Turkish provinces in the April 1999 elections. Provincial election returns are divided into seven clusters and analyzed. Party system characteristics as well as socioeconomic development levels exhibit striking differences across clusters. The least developed eastern and southeastern provinces, where Kurdish separatist activities have been most effective, show a high degree of fractionalization and sizeable electoral volatility. Central Anatolian provinces that once heavily voted for Islamists shifted toward the ultra‐nationalists. The fact that all provinces other than the most developed western group predominantly support either anti‐systemic or ultra‐nationalist parties, is posited as the central puzzle of Turkish electoral politics