1. Political Islam in Turkey
Selimiye Mosque, A picture from the Single Party Period

2. Historical Background
Establishment period of the Republic: Laicism not secularism. State control on religion [i.e. Directorate of Religious Affairs]
Two missions:
1. Modernizing the conservative population,
2. Protecting the Republican public sphere from the expressions of rural and religious culture
Multi-party period: Relative relaxation [Faculty of Divinity by RPP & Ezan in Arabic by DP]

3. Pro-Islamic Political Parties
National Order Party By Erbakan (1970)
Representation of the small and medium scale industrialists of Anatolia
Anti-Americanism and anti-Europeanism
Emphasis on religious values and norms
Closed down in 1971
National Salvation Party (1972)
Rejection of Westernization
The idea of restoration of Ottoman institutions and culture
Aydınlar Ocağı, the Hearth of the Enlightened ! [Formulation of Turkish Islamic Synthesis]
National View / Milli Görüş
As the part of National Front Governments, colonizing the ministries.

4. Political Islam in the 1980s
1980 Military Coup
Instrumentalizing Islamic discourse: Turkish-Islamic synthesis
Purpose: Diminishing the power of the left and depoliticizing masses
Islamists in ANAP, continuing infiltration [Cemil Çiçek, Abdulkadir Aksu…]
Increasing number of mosques
Disseminating religious education
The year of 1987: Refah Partisi- Welfare Party established

5. Political interactions in the 1990s
Turkish armed forces as the guardian of Kemalism. Principles to be safeguarded:
[1] Laicism,
[2] A modern/Western identity and lifestyle,
[3] The cultural homogeneity and territorial unity of the nation
The rise of identity politics>> Challenges by Islamic movement and the Kurdish movement >>
The “Political Army” polarizing politics: “Reactionary Islamists” vs. “Secularists” + “Patriots” vs. “Separatists”
Islam getting out of the state control: Political Islam gaining popular character – so called Irtica
Persisting military power in the 1990s: A decade of political and economic instability, weak coalition governments

6. Political Interactions in the 1990s
General Election
DYP (%27)
ANAP (% 24)
SHP (20.75)
RP (%16.8)
DSP (%10.7)
General Election
RP (%21.4)
ANAP (%19.6)
DYP (%19.8)
DSP (%14.6)
CHP (%10.7)
General Election
DSP (%22.2)
MHP (%18)
FP (%15.4)
ANAP (%13.2)
DYP (%12)

7. Islamic Mobilization- Welfare Party
Welfare Party relies on a different segment in the society: Urban poor, unlike NOP or NSP in the 1970s originating from within Anatolia
How Welfare Party became successful?
Not high politics, activism on the local level
Adopting a left discourse and practice in the absence of the revolutionary left in Turkey
Just order- “Adil Düzen”
Despite working a lot for organizing people, political representation of women was limited in RP.

8. 1994 Municipal Elections
DYP: % 21.5, ANAP: % 21.07, RP: % SHP: % 13.4
RP gained the control of most of the metropolitan municipalities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Erzurum, Konya, Kayseri, Diyarbakir.
Signs of getting more popular
Attempts for Islamization of public sphere [A mosque in Taksim !?]
A new door into the rise of Islamic bourgeoisie.

9. Crucial Events during Refah-Yol Government
Susurluk Accident : “The state” within the state revealed > Response of the society: “Sürekli Aydınlık İçin Bir Dakika Karanlık Eylemi” > Turning to be a collective action against Refah-Yol > Erbakan: “Gulu Gulu Dansı Yapıyorlar”
Erbakan’s visit to Libya
Escalation of the conflict: Kurdish question deepens

10. 28 February 1997: The “post-modern’ Military Coup
Why it is called as “post-modern”?
A powerful media campaign for creating righteousness of a military intervention> Claim: “Sheria is approaching, Islamist reactionism is about to prevail!”
Play on Palestine> Tanks in Sincan
NSC gave a list of measures designed to nullify the supposed Islamization of Turkey and fortify the secular system.
The government resigned in June 1997
Constitutional court closed down WP and Erbakan suspended for 10 years

11. The AKP
Coming from within Welfare Party – so called National View Tradition
The ideology of the AKP has three important facets:
[1] Identity politics relying on conservatism,
The return of the “Oppressed”: Deliberate ambiguity of AKP towards political Islam > So called “conservative democrats”
[2] Authoritarian democracy (after 2010),
[3] Neo-liberalism populism
Periodization of a decade:
: Struggle to Survive
: “The Fight”
: Consolidation of AKP power

12. Tinerci Nesil VS. Dindar Nesil?