THE HISTORY AND POLITICS OF MODERN TURKEY Dr

THE HISTORY AND POLITICS OF MODERN TURKEY Dr. Feyzi Karabekir Akkoyunlu karabekir. akkoyunlu@uni-graz. at IRI – USP 2018

THE AKP AND THE RISE AND FALL OF ‘THE TURKISH MODEL’ OVERVIEW • The roots of Political Islam in the 1990 s • Passive Revolution, Islamic Calvinism, Anatolian Tigers • What is the ‘Turkish model’? • “The Arab Spring and Turkish Democracy” – presentation by José • Explaning the success and transformation of the AKP • Documentary: “Flowers of Gezi Park”

POLITICAL ISLAM IN THE 1990 s Election campaign in Istanbul in the 1990 s – Welfare Party

POLITICAL ISLAM IN THE 1990 s Islamism / Political Islam • Political movements that take Islam as a key reference and mobilising framework • Often developmentalist, redistributive, anti-Semitic, anti. Israel • Diffuse sense of a ‘just’ or Islamic ‘order’ • Muslim Brotherhood since the 1930 s in the Arab World • Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979

POLITICAL ISLAM IN THE 1990 s Milli Görüş (National View) • The sister movement to the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey • Founded by Necmettin Erbakan • Different, as it evolves in a strictly secularist legal environment

POLITICAL ISLAM IN THE 1990 s Milli Görüş (National View) • The parties of Erbakan and the Milli Görüş tradition are repeatedly seen as threat to the secular order and outlawed by the Constitutional Court. • They are subsequently re-established under different names and with the same party ideology and cadres. • 1990 s see the rise of the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi). • Welfare wins Istanbul, Ankara and other cities in the 1994 local elections. • In 1996, it becomes the first Islamist party to form a governing coalition. • Overthrown in a “soft coup” in 1997.

POLITICAL ISLAM IN THE 1990 s Why 1990 s? • The military coup of 1980 • The crushing of the Left as a political alternative • Enforced Neoliberalisation • Corruption of the political class • Poor public services • Islamists promise delivery of public services; social and economic justice Newspapers on 28 March announce the Refah victory in Istanbul and Ankara. Below, Necmettin Erbakan and Tayyip Erdogan during an election rally.

‘Passive Revolution’ ‘Islamic Calvinism’ • Berkeley sociologist Cihan Tugal: • German political analyst Gerald Knaus: • “The Welfare municipalities have transformed Islamist radicals into conservative capitalists and have thereby de-radicalised them”. • Re-Interpretation of Islam for the needs of capitalism. Hard work and devotion seen as a form of worship. Creates the foundation of industrial success of Anatolian Tigers. ‘Anatolian Tigers’ • Conservative familyowned, export-oriented small to medium sized businesses based in provincial towns of Anatolia, which took off in the 1990 s and attained global success in the 2000 s.

POLITICAL ISLAM IN THE 1990 s Social conservatism The Gülen Movement Relatively rigid gender roles. • Established by the Sufi religious scholar Fethullah Gülen Attempt to bring modern life, progress and Islamic spirituality in conformity. • Began with pre-schools and turned into an empire of schools and prep-schools first in Turkey and then abroad • More than a thousand schools globally that affiliate with the Hizmet movement • Dozens of universities, particularly in the Balkans and Central Asia • Associations of business-men and exporters (TUSKON) • Crucial business networks • Followers increasingly present inside state institutions • Distinct from Milli Görüş • Gülen supports military coups, including against Welfare in 1997 • But is targeted by the anti-Islamist crackdown after the 97 coup. • Flees to the United States • After 2002, forms alliance with young reformist Islamists that form AKP Ideologically adaptable and flexible • • Classic Islamism Turkish Nationalism Dialogue of religions Globalisation

THE ‘TURKISH MODEL’ What is it? • Cihan Tugal: • “Marriage of formal democracy, free market capitalism and a (toned down) conservative Islam” --or simply-Islamic Liberalism • Promoted in the 2000 s by international business, media and foreign policy circles as antidote to anti-western Islamic radicalism.

THE ‘TURKISH MODEL’ Various Incarnations • Turkey as ‘little America’ under Menderes in the 1950 s. • Turkey as a pro-NATO free market Muslim country under Özal in the 1980 s. • Turkey as a ‘model’ for post-Soviet Central Asian Republics in the 1990 s. • Turkey as the ‘moderate Islamic model’ in the “war against terror” in the early 2000 s. • Erdogan’s Turkey as a model to post. Arab Spring Middle East in the 2010 s.

THE ARAB SPRING AND TURKISH DEMOCRACY

CHANGES AND CONTINUITIES FROM ATATÜRK TO ERDOĞAN Next (final) lecture: 27 September