Allies and enemies: the Gülen movement and the AKP

Abstract

This paper charts how the Gülen movement (GM)’s allegiance and effectiveness has changed over the past two decades. It examines how the GM has moved from being a fellow Islamist actor in Turkish politics to close ally during the first ten years of the AKP government with the joint aim of decreasing the Kemalist hold on the establishment. The paper then examines how the GM has been delegitimised by the AKP since it became more of a risk than an asset amidst disagreements over policy direction. It argues that the GM has transitioned from being a rival to an ally of the AKP in order to facilitate policy; going from a non-state actor pre-2002 to a quasi-state actor during its alliance. The alliance was a mutually beneficial ‘marriage of convenience’ which enabled both parties to consolidate power often through illiberal means. However, since 2013 the AKP-Gülen relationship has deteriorated markedly and the movement is now an enemy of the AKP and a victim of the same authoritarian drift it was previously complicit in.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The Gülen movement (GM) is also known as Cemaat (community) and Hizmet (service).

2 Defined here as the authoritarian state tradition following the work of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk). See Alaranta (2014) for a discussion of the nature of “Kemalism” since 1923.

3 For background on political Islam in contemporary Turkey see Şen (2010).

4 For studies on the background to it see Hendrick (2013), Tittensor (2014), Tee (2016), Demiralp (2016), Watmough and Öztürk (2018) and Yavuz and Balci (2018).

5 The military had already been perturbed by Tansu Ciller’s coalition with the Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) of Necmettin Erbakan which led to the so-called “post-modern coup” of February 1997 and RP’s subsequent closure.

6 Agence France Presse (2004) ‘Turkish parliament to discuss outlawing adultery’ 31 August.

7 Agence France Presse (2003) ‘Turkey's secular elite clashes with government on Islamic-style headscarves,' 23 April.

8 Ergenekon itself is a place referred to in Turkic mythology where the early Turkic peoples congregated. Such mythology, along with that of the grey wolf, was used in the early days of the Republic to foster nationalist pride. See Jenkins (2009).

9 Agence France Presse (2006) ‘Turkish army officers, policemen accused of anti-government plot’, 13 July.

10 Agence France Press (2007) ‘Three arrested in Turkey over ammunition cache’, 16 June.

11 Hurriyet Daily News, reported by BBC Monitoring (2008) ‘Indictment in Turkish Ergenekon case reportedly made available to judicial’, 2 July.

12 Agence France Presse (2006) ‘Angry secularist protests in Turkey after court shooting’, 18 May.

13 Agence France Presse (2007) ‘Prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist shot dead in Istanbul’, 19 January.

14 Agence France Presse (2008) ‘Turkish party leader, journalist arrested in nationalist gang probe’, 21 March.

15 Agence France Presse (2008) ‘Turkish prosecutor charges 86 over alleged coup plot’, 14 July.

16 For example, see the Susurluk incident of 1996. New York Times (1996) ‘In Turkey, New Accusations of Links Between Police, Politicians and Criminals’, 31 December.

17 Agence France Presse (2008) ‘Turkish trial of 86 alleged plotters opens chaotically’, 20 October.

18 Associated Press (2009) ‘Turkish general, government hold urgent talks’, 8 January.

19 Agence France Presse (2009) ‘Turkey's army chief denounces talk of ‘coup plot’, 26 June.

20 Agence France Presse (2009) ‘Dozens more to stand trial in Turkey coup case’, 5 August.

21 Doğan is the daughter of one of the Balyoz defendants General Cetin Doğan. She is married to Prof. Dani Rodrik.

22 Agence France Press (2010) ‘Turkey to investigate claim Islamists manipulate coup probes’, 24 August. Hanefi Avcı’s book is called Haliç’te Yaşayan Simonlar: Dün Devlet Bugün Cemaat (The Simon’s living on the Golden Horn: Yesterday a state, today a community).

23 Ahmet Şık’s 2010 book is called İmamın Ordusu (The Imam’s Army)

24 See Omer Taşpinar, (2011) ‘Turkey’s General Dilemma’, Foreign Affairs. 8 August.

25 Financial Times (2013) ‘Turkey shaken by mass arrests as conservatives feud deepens; Corruption probe’, 18 December.

26 See also the alleged involvement of the GM in the KCK (Koma Civaken Kurdistan—Union of Communities in Kurdistan) investigations from 2009 (Toktamis 2018).

27 Baykal resigned in 2010 after being implicated in a sex scandal involving a woman who was not his wife, a hotel room and a secret video released to the media.

28 Financial Times (2010) ‘Turkish aid group fields criticisms’, 7 June.

29 Wall Street Journal (2010) ‘Reclusive Turkish Imam Criticizes Gaza Flotilla’, 4 June.

30 Agence France Press (2012) ‘Turkey's intelligence chief to testify for contacts with PKK’, 8 February.

31 Agence France Press (2012) ‘Turkish prosecutor removed from PKK-related case’, 11 February.

32 Yeni Safak columnist, Abdulkadir Selvi (2012) ‘Declaration of War’, 11 February. Reported by BBC Monitoring (2012) ‘Turkish cabinet said seeing summons of intelligence head as declaration of war’, 12 February.

33 Eurasia Net (2013) ‘Turkey: Is Showdown Brewing Between Erdoğan Government and Gülen Movement?’, 7 January.

34 Hurriyet Daily News (2012) ‘Journalism on trial says freed Turkish journalist Yalcin’, 31 December. For a contrasting view see Today’s Zaman (2013) ‘Turkish journalist alleges Gülen movement behind several ongoing trials’, 1 January.

35 Washington Post (2013) ‘In Turkey protests, splits in Erdoğan 's base’, 15 June.

36 Financial Times (2013) ‘Islamist splits threaten Erdoğan 's rise to presidency’, 22 November.

37 Including Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son, Bilal.

38 Agence France Press (2013) ‘Turkey PM faces resignation call as three ministers quit’, 25 December.

39 Financial Times (2013) ‘Islamist splits threaten Erdoğan 's rise to presidency’, 20 December. Tantalisingly, he did not reveal the names of the culprits.

40 Agence France Presse (2013) ‘Turkey 'sacks police chiefs' after bribery raids’, 18 December.

41 Agence France Presse (2014) ‘Turkish army demands retrial in coup plot cases’, 2 January.

42 Agence France Presse (2014) ‘Turkey's ex-army chief released from prison’, 7 March.

43 Agence France Presse (2014) ‘Turkey arrests dozens of top police in wire-tapping probe’, 22 July.

44 Anatolia News Agency (2015) ‘Turkey: Court issues arrest warrant for US-based Gülen’, 24 February.

45 Anatolia News Agency (2015) ‘Turkey issues list of most ‘wanted’ terrorists’, 28 October. See also www.terorarananlar.pol.tr. This ignored the numerous and gaping inconsistencies of associating these organisations with each other.

46 Anatolia News Agency (2015) ‘Structure of Turkey's 'parallel state' revealed’, 15 December.

47 Anatolia News Agency (2016) ‘Erdoğan arch foe, police chiefs go on trial over Turkey graft claims’, 6 January.

48 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Istanbul court orders anti-Erdoğan daily into administration’, 4 March.

49 Footage of the call can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXfdMxRU-kg

50 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Erdoğan urges Turks to defend state after coup 'foiled', July 16.

51 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Turkey detains 6,000 in purge after failed coup’, 17 July.

52 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Turkey presses post-coup purge as West voices concern’, 18 July.

53 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Turkey warns Kyrgyzstan over ‘Gülen coup' risk’, 28 July.

54 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Turkey detains dozens over ‘Gülen-linked' sex tape scandal’, 2 August.

55 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Turkish cities hit by deadly bombings blamed on PKK’, 18 August.

56 Alongside the PKK and the DHKP-C.

57 Anatolia News Agency (2016) ‘Erdoğan slams Germany for not extraditing FETÖ members’, 3 Nov.

58 Agence France Presse (2015) ‘Protests in Turkey after reporters arrested for 'spying' over arms report’, 27 November.

59 Agence France Presse (2018) ‘Turkey hands jail sentences to journalists’, 25 April.

60 Agence France Presse (2017) ‘Erdoğan compares detained activists to coup plotters’, 8 July.

61 Agence France Presse (2016) ‘Fethullah Gülen, the arch-enemy of Turkey's president’ 16 July.

62 Based on the author’s conversations in London, Brussels and Ankara in 2017.

63 Anatolia News Agency (2017) ‘More than 50,000 remanded in Turkish coup bid probes’ 13 January.

64 Anatolia News Agency (2020) ‘Turkey: Over 50 FETÖ-linked terror suspects detained’ 21 January.

65 See Gazete Duvar: https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/gundem/2019/03/04/feto-uyeligi-iddiasiyla-hakkinda-adli-islem-yapilanlarin-sayisi-500-bin-650ye-yukseldi/

66 Agence France Presse (2017) ‘Erdoğan says Merkel backs terror as EU row intensifies’, 13 March.

67 Agence France Presse (2018) ‘Ukraine arrested Turkish blogger for Ankara: police’ 17 July.

68 Agence France Presse (2019) ‘Europe court censures Moldova for 'extra-legal transfer' of 5 Turks’ 11 June.

69 Agence France Presse (2018) ‘Turkey slams 'unacceptable' UK court extradition rejection’ 29 November.

70 Agence France Presse (2019) ‘Brazil court orders release of businessman accused by Ankara of terrorism’ 8 May.

71 Discursive delegitimisation is a common tactic in Turkish politics and has been used against Kurdish politicians (Martin 2018) and even the ‘Cumartesi anneleri’ (Saturday mothers) who mourn their children who died in the Kurdish unrest in the 1980s and 1990s. These elderly women have kept a weekly vigil in Istanbul since but more recently have been dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannon justified by saying the ‘mothers’ were being used by Kurdish ‘terrorists’ (Agence France Presse 2018. ‘Turkish mothers’ protest banned over ‘terror exploitation’: minister’ 27 August).

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Natalie Martin

Natalie Martin was a BBC journalist before returning to academia and was awarded a PhD in Turkey-EU relations from Loughborough University in 2012. She has since written extensively on the issue as well as Turkish politics more widely and is the author of several journal articles and a monograph, Security and the Turkey-EU Accession Process: Norms, Reforms and the Cyprus Issue, published by Palgrave in 2015.