https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8582-2665
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ABSTRACT
While much has been written to explain the mutation of Islamic-oriented parties in Turkey from pursuing an Islamic ideological cause to embracing vote-seeking behavior and democratic processes, little effort has been made to explain why the far-right establishment – represented by the Nationalist Action Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) – still resists ideological change. This article argues that fortification of nationalism with Islam in the party, the party’s identification with Turkey’s national security issues, and the construction of personality cult around party founder Alparslan Türkeş restrict its ideological moderation. Nevertheless, the party benefits from this ideological immoderation to be a key player in Turkish politics. In other words, while ideological immoderation prevents the MHP from embracing a pluralistic political stance, it has also been functional to exert its nationalist ideology on the state without sharing governmental power.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Hay, “Constructivist Institutionalism,” 63–4.
2 Ibid., 65.
3 Tezcür, Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey, 27.
4 Schwedler, “Can Islamists Become Moderates?,” 348.
5 Tezcür, Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey, 10–11.
6 Wickham, “The Path to Moderation,” 206.
7 See Tezcür, “The Moderation Theory Revisited” and Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey.
8 See Keyman and Koyuncu, “Globalization, Alternative Modernities.”
9 See Gumuscu and Sert, “The Power of the Devout Bourgeoisie.”
10 See Tuğal, Passive Revolution.
11 See Gökalp and Ünsar, “From the Myth.”
12 See Atacan, “Explaining Religious Politics”; Aydin and Çakır, “Political Islam in Turkey”; and Cizre and Çınar, “Turkey 2002.”
13 Kirdiş, “Immoderation,” 418.
14 See Kirdiş, “Wolves in Sheep Clothing.”
15 See Kirdiş and Drhimeur, “The Rise of Populism?”
16 See Abdullah, “Inclusion-Moderation,” 415–16.
17 Kirdiş, “Similar Contexts,” 468.
18 Ibid., 474–7.
19 Ibid., 477–81.
20 Pahwa, “Pathways of Islamist Adaptation,” 1071–4.
21 Tepe, “Moderation of Religious Parties,” 480.
22 See Bennich-Björkman and Johansson, “Explaining Moderation.”
23 See Stockemer and Barisione, “The ‘New’ Discourse.”
24 Stockemer, The Front National in France, 32–5.
25 Pahwa, “Pathways of Islamist Adaptation,” 1077.
26 Kirdiş, “Similar Contexts, Different Behaviour,” 469.
27 See Michels, Political Parties.
28 Michels, Political Parties, 38–44.
29 Ağaoğulları, “The Ultranationalist Right,” 202–3.
30 See the website of the Nationalist Action Party, http://www.mhp.org.tr/mhp_index.php.
31 Ibid.
32 Ağaoğulları, “The Ultranationalist Right,” 196.
33 Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 630–1.
34 Lord, Religious Politics in Turkey, 22.
35 See Lord, Religious Politics in Turkey.
36 Aslan, “A Turkish Muslim,” 525–7.
37 Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 394–5.
38 Ibid., 219.
39 Yaşlı, Kinimiz Dinimizdir, 225; Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 35.
40 Yaşlı, Kinimiz Dinimizdir, 216–22.
41 Ibid., 35.
42 Ibid., 382.
43 Turhan, Ülkü Ocakları: 1966–1980, 702.
44 Ibid., 822–4.
45 See Bora and Can, Devlet ve Kuzgun, 41–66.
46 Ibid., 183.
47 Ibid., 187.
48 See the website of the Nationalist Action Party.
49 Meşe, Komünizmle Mücadele Dernekleri, 108.
50 Ibid., 256–7.
51 CKMP 1965 Seçim Bildirgesi, 29.
52 Necmettin Hacıeminoğlu as cited in Can, “Ülkücü Hareketin İdeolojisi,” 664.
53 Bora and Can, Devlet ve Kuzgun, 125.
54 Can, “Ülkücü Hareketin İdeolojisi,” 663.
55 Ağaoğulları, “The Ultranationalist Right,” 202–3.
56 Ertan, “Türk Sağının Kızılbaş Algısı,” 213–25.
57 Bora and Can, Devlet ve Kuzgun, 76–9.
58 See Turhan, Ülkü Ocakları: 1966-1980.
59 Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 40–1.
60 Ağaoğulları, “The Ultranationalist Right,” 214, f.n. 113.
61 Turhan, Ülkü Ocakları: 1966–1980, 357.
62 Ibid., 6.
63 Ibid., 26.
64 Can, “Ülkücü Hareketin İdeolojisi,” 684.
65 Topçu, Ahlâk Nizamı, 69–77.
66 Arikan, “The Programme of the Nationalist,” 124–7.
67 Kafesoğlu, Türk Milliyetçiliğinin Meseleleri, 203.
68 Ibid., 95–6.
69 Çınar and Arıkan, “The Nationalist Action Party,” 28.
70 Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 462.
71 Bora and Can, Devlet ve Kuzgun, 90–103, and Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 463.
72 Bora and Can, Devlet ve Kuzgun, 127.
73 See Balkır and Eylemer, “Shifting Logics.”
74 Avcı, “The Nationalist Movement Party’s Euroscepticism,” 441.
75 As cited in Avcı, “The Nationalist Movement Party’s Euroscepticism,” 443.
76 Hürriyet Daily News, “MHP leader Bahçeli Voices Doubts on Turkey’s EU Bid.” March 27, 2018.
77 Devlet Bahçeli as cited in Öney, Ethnicity and Party Politics, 122.
78 Yanardağ, MHP Değişti Mi?, 293–5.
79 Bora and Can, Devlet ve Kuzgun, 359–60.
80 İbid., 360.
81 Sevinç, Ülkücüye Notlar, 59–63.
82 Ibid.
83 Çınar and Arıkan, “The Nationalist Action Party,” 32.
84 Ibid., 33–4.
85 Daily Sabah, “MHP Chairman Bahçeli: ‘Persuading Party into Coalition with HDP Waste of Time’.” June 17, 2015.
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Fatih Çağatay Cengiz
Fatih Çağatay Cengiz is an Assistant Professor at Ondokuz Mayıs University in Samsun. Dr Cengiz received his master’s degree from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2010 and his doctorate degree from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in 2016. His research focuses on state theory, democratization, and Islamic fundamentalism.