Politics, identity and religious nationalism in Turkey: from Atatürk to the AKP

Abstract

Turkey has had an Islam-influenced government since a general election in 2002. The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve KalkInma Partisi, abbreviated to AK Parti or AKP) won over a third of the popular vote and took power alone. A subsequent general election in 2007 saw the AKP win again with an improved 47 percent of votes cast. Over the last few years under the AKP, Turkey has often been noted for the ‘moderation’ of its Islam-influenced government, a positive example of the compatibility of Islam and democracy. The article focuses on Turkey's national identity and the place within it of Islam, secularism and the political role over time of the military, often judged to be the guardian of the country's secular national identity. This involves both a focus on the role and legacy of the country's nationalist founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and on the special insular and inward-looking self-selected guardian role of the military, long seen as central to national choices of the pursuit of a secular political path. The article argues that one of the defining characteristics of Turkish identity is not Islam or secularism per se. Rather, it is a pronounced, perhaps even xenophobic, fear of outsiders, including not only Westerners but also some Muslim non-Turks. The article suggests that while Islam is part of that sense of identity, it is not at its core. Moreover, if the military has its way, which at the moment seems likely, then Islam will never be allowed to be central to Turkey's sense of national identity.