The Islamist movement in Turkey and human rights

Abstract

The Turkish Islamist understanding of rights is inspired by different sources, from the Quran to liberal humanism. When put into practice within the particular sociopolitical context of Turkey, such different conceptions of rights offer the Islamists a strategic advantage in flexibility and appeal to different parts of the population, but also lead to contradictions and potential conflict. Differences in understanding rights in Turkey are exacerbated by the sheer variety of Islamic practice and Islamic political involvement. In turn, the practical implementation of these understandings of rights is constrained by the social and political context within which Islamists and others must act. I have selected for discussion one of the most influential Islamist groups in Turkey, the Welfare Party (and its successor, the Virtue Party). The term Islamist refers to self-consciously Muslim sociopolitical engagement. While this discussion should not be taken as indicative of the specific stands taken on human rights by other Islamic groups in Turkey, it will underscore the diversity of views between and within them and the internal contradictions and external constraints that affect the Islamist movement in Turkey as a whole. The Quran recognizes the person (insan) as a being enobled by and, thus, equal under God. Islam's belief that all human beings form one community is antithetical to racial, ethnic and hereditary criteria for distinction. An individual may be superior to another only in the extent of his or her piety. Historically, limitations have been placed on the rights of nonMuslims, but these limitations did not arise from permanent and irrevocable conditions like race or caste, nor were rights based on temporary or accidental features like party membership and resident status. Membership in the community of the faithful, the Umma, could be achieved by anyone, regardless of other characteristics, by the simple act of conversion to Islam, thereby gaining for oneself economic and political rights. (Enayat 1982:128) Contemporary Islamist thought and practice recognize rights and equality based on personhood, but also avail themselves of the liberal discourse of universal human rights that recognizes diversity and individual