The Rise Of Political Islam In Turkey

Turkey, a Muslim-majority country, is pivotal to Western security interests in the Middle East. Its ruling party, the AKP, has Islamic roots but operates within a framework of strict secular democracy, which has generated controversy over the boundaries between secularism and religion. This monograph describes the politico-religious landscape in Turkey and evaluates how the balance between secular and religious forces has changed over the past decade.

American geopolitical interests and the potential threats to those interests are both on the rise in East Africa. The author places the spread of militant Islamism and the development of radical Islamist networks in East Africa in the broader context of the social, economic, and political factors that have shaped the region's security environment.

Turkey, officially a secular state, voted in an Islamist party in 2002, 2007 and 2011. How far does this reflect the trend which has seen the rise of political Islam across the Middle East? Does this indicate a growing tendency in the direction of Islamisation amongst the Turkish population? If not, what are the underlying reasons behind the electoral triumphs of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (the AKP)? Kayhan Delibas seeks to answer these questions through an in-depth examination of the appeal of this political party, exploring its ideology, the routes and motives which produce party activists and local party organisations. Concluding that the AKP's success has been built on its criticism of growing inequalities, widespread corruption, unemployment, poverty and lack of basic services, Delibas draws a nuanced portrait of modern Turkish society and the relationship between religion and politics. Delibas offers an explanation, based on research carried out amongst grassroots activists, for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey.Islamic movements are often described as anti-modernist, thought to be supported by fundamentalist groups living in a bygone age, isolated from the rest of the modern world. In recent years, particularly since the events of 9/11, such movements have also been seen as a threat to the Western way of life. But Delibas argues that these movements, and particularly those in Turkey, did not arise out of religious fervour or hatred of Western civilisation, as is often claimed. Rather, they were founded, and have thrived, as a response to socio-economic and political conditions that have been aggravated by neoliberal economic policies, rapid urbanisation and the globalization of culture. By exploring the structural conditions in which an Islamic movement emerged and become popular in a seemingly secular state, The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey offers vital analysis for all those researching modern Turkey and the growth of Islamist politics throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Turkey, officially a secular state, voted in an Islamist party in 2002, 2007 and 2011. How far does this reflect the trend which has seen the rise of political Islam across the Middle East? Does this indicate a growing tendency in the direction of Islamisation amongst the Turkish population? If not, what are the underlying reasons behind the electoral triumphs of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (the AKP)? Kayhan Delibas seeks to answer these questions through an in-depth examination of the appeal of this political party, exploring its ideology, the routes and motives which produce party activists and local party organisations. Concluding that the AKP's success has been built on its criticism of growing inequalities, widespread corruption, unemployment, poverty and lack of basic services, Delibas draws a nuanced portrait of modern Turkish society and the relationship between religion and politics. Delibas offers an explanation, based on research carried out amongst grassroots activists, for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey.Islamic movements are often described as anti-modernist, thought to be supported by fundamentalist groups living in a bygone age, isolated from the rest of the modern world. In recent years, particularly since the events of 9/11, such movements have also been seen as a threat to the Western way of life. But Delibas argues that these movements, and particularly those in Turkey, did not arise out of religious fervour or hatred of Western civilisation, as is often claimed. Rather, they were founded, and have thrived, as a response to socio-economic and political conditions that have been aggravated by neoliberal economic policies, rapid urbanisation and the globalization of culture. By exploring the structural conditions in which an Islamic movement emerged and become popular in a seemingly secular state, The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey offers vital analysis for all those researching modern Turkey and the growth of Islamist politics throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Islamist capital accumulation has split the Turkish bourgeoisie and polarized Turkish society into secular and religious social groupings, giving rise to conflicts between the state and political Islam. By providing a long-term historical perspective on Turkey's economy and its relationship to Islamism, this volume explores how Islamism as a political ideology has been utilized by the conservative bourgeoisie in Turkey, and elsewhere, to establish hegemony over labor. The contributors analyze the relationship between neoliberalism and the political fortunes of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), and examine the similarities and differences amongst new factions in the secular and Islamic middle class that have benefited economically, socially, and culturally during the AKP's reign. The articles also investigate the impact of the Gülen Movement and the role of the media in shaping the contours of intra-class struggle within contemporary Turkish political and social life.

The Mobilization of Political Islam in Turkey explains why political Islam, which has been part of Turkish politics since the 1970s but on the rise only since the 1990s, has now achieved governing power. Drawing on social movement theory, the book focuses on the dominant form of Islamist activism in Turkey by analyzing the increasing electoral strength of four successive Islamist political parties: the Welfare Party; its successor, the Virtue Party; and the successors of the Virtue Party: the Felicity Party and the Justice and Development Party. This book, which is based on extensive primary and secondary sources as well as in-depth interviews, provides the most comprehensive analysis currently available of the Islamist political mobilization in Turkey.

This book charts the economic, social and political rise of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) as well as its political resilience over the last sixteen years. Going beyond the standard dichotomy debate of political Islam versus secularism, the author shows how the JDP, a political party with substantial roots in political Islam, came to power in 2002 as an outcome of the socioeconomic transformation process that started in the country in the 1980s. The book further illustrates how the party consolidated its ruling power by catering to its core constituencies via a multifaceted set of policies that gave rise to the emergence of a powerful political machine. A careful analysis of the JDP’s policy agenda highlights the discrepancy between the party's discourse and its supply of policies. Furthermore, the author shows how the party has skilfully (re-)framed its ideological stance by changing alliances, and in analysing this hybrid ideological framing she presents key underpinnings of the party that paved the way to a fundamental restructuring of the Turkish party system and establishment of a new regime that replaced the old guard. This book will be of interest to academics, graduate students and researchers interested in comparative politics, political science and sociology.

Although regarded as a single community of Islamists, Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This book examines why some Islamic movements facing the same socio-political structures pursue different political paths, while their counterparts in diverse contexts make similar political choices. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving personal interviews with Islamic politicians, journalists, and ideologues - conducted both before and after the Arab Spring - author Esen KirdiAY draws close comparisons between six Islamic movements in Jordan, Morocco and Turkey. She analyses how some Islamic movements decide to form a political party to run in elections, while their counterparts in the same country reject doing so and instead engage in political activism as a social movement through informal channels. More broadly, the study demonstrates the role of internal factors, ideological priorities and organisational needs in explaining differentiation within Islamic political movements, and discusses its effects on democratisation.