Introduction -- PART ONE. PREVIOUS APPROACHES AND ASSUMPTIONS. -- Left/right "ideological" positioning and the role of religion in Turkish elections -- Center/periphery and other essential social cleavages in Turkish elections -- Persistent political orientations and the electoral system in Turkey -- PART TWO. ELECTORAL PARADIGMS IN TURKEY. -- The initial paradigm, 1950-1965 -- The ideological imaging paradigm, 1965-1980 -- The "national center" paradigm, 1983-1991 -- The culture-identity paradigm, 1995-2007 -- A predominant party paradigm? : 2011-? -- Conclusion