Societal challenges to the state

Islamic movements in Turkey

Islam & the Turkish state• Muslim citizenry• Turkey as “secular

state”• Abolition of Caliphate in

1924• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

& the “six arrows” of Kemalism

• Islam as “backwards”

• Multi-party period, 1950 onwards

• Interventions: Three (four?) military coups

• Fundamentalism as internal enemy

Islamic groups in Turkey: an overview

• Diverse, mostly moderate• Islamic political parties

• Refah (Welfare)• Coalition partner 1995-1997

• Adalet ve Kalkinma Party (Justice & Development, or the AK Party)

• Current ruling party (since 2002)

• Moderate, progressive Islamic• Split from “traditionalist”

Islamist party in 2001

• Other Islamic orgs• Sufi orders• Nurcu movement

• Said Nursi (1873-1960)• Gulen community

(Fethullahcilar)

AKP• “One of the main principles of our Party is the

proverb, ‘Unless everyone is free, no one is free’. Our Party considers as one of its most important tasks, the assurance of democratization by placing the individual at the center of all its policies, and to provide and protect fundamental human rights and freedoms.

• Our Party constitutes a ground where the unity and the integrity of the Republic of Turkey, the secular, democratic, social State of law, and the processes of civilianization, democratization, freedom of belief and equality of opportunity are considered essential.”

-AK Party Program. For more see: http://www.akparti.org.tr/

Fethullacilar: When & Who• Nurcu offshoot • Fetullah Gulen (hocaefendi)

• born in Erzurum, 1938; Islamic preacher• “Best religious story teller in Turkey”

• Phases:• 1960s-1970s Building a core group of spiritually

motivated supporters• 1980s-1990s transnational education movement• 200,000- 4 million supporters by 1990s

• young professional men

Fethullacilar: What•Islamic-scientific synthesis through education

•Personal and social transformation through education and use of the public sphere

•Turkish-Islamic nationalist synthesis

•Turco-Ottoman nationalist

•Discourse of democracy, human rights

•Pro-State

•Rejects politicization of Islam

•religion a private matter and its requirements should not be imposed on anyone. • when Islam is mixed with politics it becomes polluted•Unequivocal rejection of violence

•re-establish link between religion and the state by having state leaders privately practice Islam.

•Emphasis on tolerance and inter-faith dialogue

•Faith before Islam

•Status of women

Fethullacilar: How• vast educational, charity and financial network

• own and run more than 300 schools worldwide• Financial institutions (Asya Finans)

• large media empire• Newspapers and TV stations

• Books, cassettes, columns, videos, web sites• state-society relationship

• Briefly jailed in the 1970s and sermons banned until 1986; today has good working relationships with many political parties and secular leaders of the establishment

• Supportive of military-led efforts to combat political Islam in Turkey

• Some persecution after 1997• Watch a Fethullah Gulen video at these links:

• http://www.fgulen.org/ (English)• http://www.m-fgulen.org/a.page/multimedya/c782.html (Turkish)

• Recent Interviews with Gulen: http://www.zaman.com/?bl=national&alt=&hn=6681

Above left, Gulen at a meeting of the Turk Ocaklari; above right, with the late Pope John Paul II; bottom left, with David Aseo, the late chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Turkey, 1996. Photos from

Fethullacilar: part of civil society?