Between ‘tradition’ and movement: the emergence of Turkey’s Anti-Capitalist Muslims in the age of protest

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the emergence of the “Anti-Capitalist Muslims” (ACMs) movement as the conjunction of critical Muslim politics and grassroots activism in Istanbul, Turkey. It explores the way in which Islam has been reconstituted in Turkish politics, in contrast to both fundamentalism and the government’s neoliberal conservatism. The article draws upon Talal Asad’s definition of Islam as a ‘tradition’ that attempts to achieve coherent narratives in a form which considers and enters into a dialogue with the present context, especially with contemporary social movements. It is argued that, through a dialogue between Islam and anti-capitalist social movements, the ACMs constructed an alternative Islamic tradition, focused especially on emancipation, equality and challenging structures of domination. Yet this alternative tradition proved unable to sustain itself due to the presence of a number of ongoing ridigities, which it is suggested might be addressed in future attempts to construct an anti-capitalist form of Islam.

KEYWORDS:

• Anti-Capitalist Muslims
• tradition
• social movements
• disruptive politics
• Turkey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Leor Uestebay http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8106-9514

Notes

1. ‘And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and to Allah is the destination’, Surah An-Nur, Verse 42.

2. The meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan.

3. ‘Bu da İftar Eylemi’, on5yirmi5, 8 August 2011.

4. During the Gezi protests, the pro-government media accused the demonstrators of attacking a veiled woman with a baby; walking with shoes and drinking booze in Dolmabahce mosque – a claim that was rejected by the mosque’s muezzin (A man who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret of a mosque) himself. T24, ‘Camide içki içtiler’ iddiasını yalanlayan müezzin: Teşekkür beklerken tenzil edildim’, 22 November 2014.

5. The Sunnis are the largest branch of the Muslim community, at least 85 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims. The name is derived from the Sunnah, the exemplary behaviour of the Prophet Muhammad, Oxford Islamic Studies Online.

6. Alevism (Alevilik) is a heteredox form of Islam and a branch of Shi’a Islam that is practiced in Turkey and the Balkans among the ethnic Turks and Kurds. Alevis make up 20% of Turkish Muslims and comprise Turkey’s largest religious minority community. Due to the state oppression and massacres under the Ottoman Empre and the Turkish Republic, Alevis have been drawn to the leftist and secular politics.

7. The previous President, Abdullah Gül (2007–2014), the current President Tayyip Erdoğan, and the US-based cleric Fetullah Gülen are amongst the former members of the National Turkish Student Union.

8. AntiKapitalist Müslümanlar, Retrieved on 15 May 2018.

9. Antikapitalist Müslümanlar, blog, Retrieved on 17 May 2018.

10. Justice has been a key discourse of the Islamic politics in Turkey, although its scope and meaning varies across the political groups. Under the rubric of ‘Just Order’ (Adil Düzen), the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah Partisi), movement under the leadership of Necmettin Erbakan envisioned a blend of nationalist economic programme and socially conservative society. In contrast to Kemalism, Erbakan’s political compass pointed to the Muslim world rather than the West, which upset the secular Turkish army that expunged him from the prime minister office in 1997.

11. HAS Parti Program.

12. HAS Parti Program.

13. HAS Parti Program.

14. HAS Parti Program.

15. Literally means ‘elder brother’ in Turkish.

16. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

17. ‘La ilahe illallah anarşizme yakındır’, Interview with Irfan Aktar, 15 April 2010.

18. In the 1960s, Cemil Meriç (2004), who argued that anarchism or socialism are closer to the idea of Islam than the other Western ideologies.

19. ‘İlahî çağrı: Barış Yurdu’, Ihsan Eliaçık, 18 August 2015.

20. Namaz is a daily act of worship with four main postures.

21. ‘İslam’ın Ritüelleri’, Ihsan Eliaçık, 18 December 2010.

22. Ibid.

23. Kamuder, Revolutionary Muslims (Devrimci Müsülmanlar) and the Labor and Justice Platform (Emek ve Adelet Platformu).

24. I do not disclose the real name of Melih in this paper for security and confidentiality reasons.

25. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

26. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

27. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

28. Antikapitalist Müslümanlar Manifestosu (2014, April).

29. From the 1950s to 1970s, the anticommunist stream of the Islamist political programme was embodied in the Komünizmle Mücadele Dernekleri (Associations for Struggle against Communism) and the Milli Türk Talebe Birliği (National Turkish Student Union). The former members of these organizations include the previous President, Abdullah Gül (2007–2014), the Head of the National Assembly, Ismail Kahraman, and Fetullah Gülen.

30. Fieldnotes, 31 January 2014.

31. It means ‘dindar’ in Turkish. The group members preferred to use mütedeyyin to define the pro-government people with low income and they reitereted the importance of interatcion with them.

32. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

33. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

34. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

35. ‘Ortak iradenin lidersiz ve hiyerarsisiz örgütlenmesi’, author’s translation

36. Tevhid in Turkish.

37. Ihsan Eliaçık, Interview, 11 February 2014.

38. ‘Eşitler arasında sorumluluk bilinci’ (author’s translation).

39. Fieldnotes, 03 March 2014.

40. Salah means namaz in Turkish, and it is one of the pillars of Islam that requires a physical act of worship five times a day.

41. Fieldnotes, 03 March 2014.

42. ‘Kadim Yürüyüş - Ortak Mülkiyete & Ortak Yönetime Doğru’ in Turkish.

43. Fieldnotes, 11 March 2014.

44. Melih, Interview, 17 February 2014.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leor Uestebay

Leor Uestebay is a PhD fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on the emergence of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the shifting modes of democratic representation in Turkey. He recently completed a visiting research studentship at the European Institute at LSE.