Islamisation of Turkey under the AKP Rule: Empowering Family, Faith and Charity

Abstract

Referring to the linkages between neoliberal social policies and religious forms of governmentality, this article analyses the Islamisation of Turkey under the rule of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) since 2002. It discusses the strategies, discourses, and policies deployed by the AKP to take control of the state, with a particular focus on the changing environment of social policies. The focus is on the growing importance of the family, faith-based voluntary organisations, charities, education, and Islam for AKP rule. It concludes with brief reference to the #Occupygezi movement, which was partly a response to the Islamisation pursued by the AKP government.

Keywords::

• AKP
• Neoliberalism
• Islamisation
• Social Policy
• Family
• Charity
• Turkey

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the anonymous reviewers of the journal for their invaluable remarks, suggestions, and criticisms. I am grateful to Susannah Verney and Senem Aydın-Düzgit for their constructive remarks and suggestions. I am also thankful to Carol LaMotte and Bianca Kaiser for their assistance in proofreading the article.

Notes

^1.Milli Görü¸ (National Outlook) is the ideology of Islamist politics in Turkey since the establishment of the National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi) in Turkey in 1970. After the Constitutional Court banned the Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi), which was an off-spring of Milli Görü¸, the movement divided into two groups: conservatives siding with Necmettin Erbakan, the founder of the movement, and progressives siding with Tayyip Erdoğan (Co¸ar 2012).

^2. The Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) trials have been important judiciary instruments for the AKP to challenge the legitimacy of the military among the public. For further information on the impact of the trials on Turkish politics see Seufert (2014).

^3. For more information on the main tenets of the ‘Brand Turkey’ equipped with Islamic and neo-Ottoman characteristics, see the EU Communication Strategy prepared by the Secretariat General for European Union Affairs in Ankara in 2010 (http://www.abgs.gov.tr/abis/?l = 2). Similarly, 2023 Vision of the AKP (http://www.akparti.org.tr/english), newly established Yunus Emre Institutes (http://yee.org.tr), and Ramadan in Istanbul (http://istanbuldaramazan.org) display Islamic and neo-Ottoman undertones in their content and coverage.

^4. Çarkoğlu and Toprak (2007, p. 27) have claimed that the use of the headscarf in Turkey did not increase when compared with the year 1999. However, one could not deny the increasing popularity of Islamic clothing in the media and film and fashion industries.

^5. The Kurdish–Turkish peace process is an ongoing process aiming to resolve the conflict between the Kurds and the Turkish state, which has been continuing since 1984 and has resulted in more than 40,000 mortalities and great economic loss for Turkey. There was a unilateral ceasefire in 1999–2004. The latest ceasefire was mutually declared in 2013 and lasted until September 2014, when it came into question due to the spillover effect of the Syrian Civil War and the AKP's reluctance to help the Kurds in Kobane, which was besieged by Islamic State forces.

^6. Turkish police arrested the sons of three cabinet ministers and at least 34 others in orchestrated raids that appeared to represent the biggest assault on the authority of then prime minister Erdoğan since mass protests against his rule in the summer of 2013. Later, Erdoğan and his AKP government portrayed the detentions as a civilian coup organised by the Gülen movement against his power.

^7. The replacement of the laicist–secularist president of the YÖK in 2007 also marked the beginning of a process of appointing conservative rectors to state universities, who were confirmed by President Gül.

^8. For further information on the Constitutional Court decision banning the headscarf in public institutions, see http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/06/06/turkey19050.htm, accessed 15 May 2014.

^9. ‘Released Footage Shows No Physical Attack on Headscarf-Wearing Woman during Gezi Protests’, Hürriyet Daily News, 14 February 2014, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/released-footage-shows-no-physical-attack-on-headscarf-wearing-woman-during-gezi-protests.aspx?pageID = 238&nID = 62479&NewsCatID = 341, accessed 14 March 2014.

^10. ‘Female, Male Students Living Together Is Against Our Character: Turkish PM’, Hürriyet Daily News, 4 November 2013, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/female-male-students-living-together-is-against-our-character-turkish-pm.aspx?pageID = 238&nID = 57343&NewsCatID = 338, accessed 22 March 2014.

^11. TGTV (Türkiye Gönüllü Te¸ekküller Vakfı, Turkish Foundation of Voluntary Associations), established in 2012 (http://www.tgtv.org/), and TÜRGEV (Türkiye Gençlik ve Eğitime Hizmet Vakfı, Foundation for Service to Youth and Education in Turkey), also established in 2012 (http://www.turgev.org/), are the two largest umbrella associations with Islamic sensitivities. For further discussion on TGTV see Göçmen (2014a).

^12. For the history of the Directorate General of Social Assistance, see http://www.sosyalyardimlar.gov.tr/tr/11781/SYGM-Tarihce, accessed 3 March 2014.

^13. One of the most infamous charity organisations is Deniz Feneri (Lighthouse, http://www.denizfeneri.org/), established in 2005. Deniz Feneri immediately became a widespread institution, not only in Turkey, but also abroad, especially in Western European countries where there are millions of Turkish-origin emigrants. In 2008, a legal case was opened in Germany against this religious-based charity, over claims of illegal financial transactions involving donated funds and fraud. See http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id = 9916248, accessed 6 March 2014. A more recent example of such charity organisations is TÜRGEV. In early 2014, some charges appeared in the media regarding the corruption allegations against TÜRGEV. See http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/Erdoğan-threatened-by-expanding-turkey-corruption-scandal-a-941138.html, accessed 5 March 2014.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayhan Kaya

Ayhan Kaya is Professor of Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics of Interculturalism in the Department of International Relations at Istanbul Bilgi University, where he is also Director of the European Institute. He received his PhD and MA from the University of Warwick, UK. His latest books are Europeanisation and Tolerance in Turkey (London: Palgrave, 2013) and Islam, Migration and Integration: The Age of Securitisation (London: Palgrave, 2012). He is a member of the Science Academy, Turkey.