The Politics of Turkey takes place in a framework of a secular parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Turkey is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi)

The function of Head of State is performed by the President (Cumhurbaşkanı). A president is elected every seven years by the Grand National Assembly. The President does not have to be a member of parliament. The current President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, was elected by Parliament on May 16, 2000. Executive power rests in the Prime Minister (Başbakan) and the Council of Ministers (Bakanlar Kurulu). The Ministers have to be members of Parliament; however, the Prime Minister is no longer required to be an MP. The Prime Minister is elected by the parliament through a vote of confidence in his government. The Prime Minister is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose Islamic conservative AKP won a majority of parliamentry seats in the 2002 general elections. The Chairman of the Parliament is Bülent Arınç from the same party. The current President of the Constitutional Court is Mustafa Bumin.

Legislative power is invested in the 550-seat Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi), representing 81 provinces. The members are elected for a five year term by mitigated proportional representation with an election threshold of 10 %. To avoid fragmentation of parliament, a party must win at least 10% of the national vote in a national parliamentary election to gain parliamentary representation. Independent candidates may run, and to be elected, they must only win 10% of the vote in the province from which they are running. The Turkish military plays an informal political role, seeing itself as the guardian of the secular, unitary nature of the republic. Political parties deemed anti-secular or separatist by the judiciary can be banned. Turkey has a multi-party system, with several strong parties.

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The freedom and independence of the Judicial System is protected within the constitution. There is no organization, person, or institution which can interfere in the running of the courts, and the executive and legislative structures must obey the courts' decisions. The courts, which are independent in discharging their duties, must explain each ruling on the basis of the provisions of the Constitution, the laws, jurisprudence, and their personal convictions.

The Judicial system is highly structured. Turkish courts have no jury system; judges render decisions after establishing the facts in each case based on evidence presented by lawyers and prosecutors. For minor civil complaints and offenses, justices of the peace take the case. This court has a single judge. It has jurisdiction over misdemeanors and petty crimes, with penalties ranging from small fines to brief prison sentences. Three-judge courts of first instance have jurisdiction over major civil suits and serious crimes. Any conviction in a criminal case can be taken to a court of Appeals for judicial review.