Societal challenges to the state

1
Societal challenges to the state

• Islamic movements in Turkey

2
Islam the Turkish state

• Muslim citizenry
• Turkey as secular state
• Abolition of Caliphate in 1924
• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk the six arrows of
  Kemalism
• Islam as backwards
• Multi-party period, 1950 onwards
• Interventions Three (four?) military coups
• Fundamentalism as internal enemy

3
Islamic groups in Turkey an overview

• Diverse, mostly moderate
• Islamic political parties
• Refah (Welfare)
• Coalition partner 1995-1997
• Adalet ve Kalkinma Party (Justice Development,
  or the AK Party)
• Current ruling party (since 2002)
• Moderate, progressive Islamic
• Split from traditionalist Islamist party in
  2001
• Other Islamic orgs
• Sufi orders
• Nurcu movement
• Said Nursi (1873-1960)
• Gulen community (Fethullahcilar)

4
AKP

• One of the main principles of our Party is the
  proverb, Unless everyone is free, no one is
  free. Our Party considers as one of its most
  important tasks, the assurance of democratization
  by placing the individual at the center of all
  its policies, and to provide and protect
  fundamental human rights and freedoms.
• Our Party constitutes a ground where the unity
  and the integrity of the Republic of Turkey, the
  secular, democratic, social State of law, and the
  processes of civilianization, democratization,
  freedom of belief and equality of opportunity are
  considered essential.

• AK Party Program. For more see
  http//www.akparti.org.tr/

5
Fethullacilar When Who

• Nurcu offshoot
• Fetullah Gulen (hocaefendi)
• born in Erzurum, 1938 Islamic preacher
• Best religious story teller in Turkey
• Phases
• 1960s-1970s Building a core group of spiritually
  motivated supporters
• 1980s-1990s transnational education movement
• 200,000- 4 million supporters by 1990s
• young professional men

6
Fethullacilar What

• Islamic-scientific synthesis through education
• Personal and social transformation through
  education and use of the public sphere
• Turkish-Islamic nationalist synthesis
• Turco-Ottoman nationalist
• Discourse of democracy, human rights
• Pro-State

• Rejects politicization of Islam
• religion a private matter and its requirements
  should not be imposed on anyone.
• when Islam is mixed with politics it becomes
  polluted
• Unequivocal rejection of violence
• re-establish link between religion and the state
  by having state leaders privately practice Islam.
  
• Emphasis on tolerance and inter-faith dialogue
• Faith before Islam
• Status of women

7
Fethullacilar How

• vast educational, charity and financial network
• own and run more than 300 schools worldwide
• Financial institutions (Asya Finans)
• large media empire
• Newspapers and TV stations
• Books, cassettes, columns, videos, web sites
• state-society relationship
• Briefly jailed in the 1970s and sermons banned
  until 1986 today has good working relationships
  with many political parties and secular leaders
  of the establishment
• Supportive of military-led efforts to combat
  political Islam in Turkey
• Some persecution after 1997
• Watch a Fethullah Gulen video at these links
• http//www.fgulen.org/ (English)
• http//www.m-fgulen.org/a.page/multimedya/c782.htm
  l (Turkish)
• Recent Interviews with Gulen http//www.zaman.com
  /?blnationalalthn6681

8
Above left, Gulen at a meeting of the Turk
Ocaklari above right, with the late Pope John
Paul II bottom left, with David Aseo, the late
chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Turkey,
1996. Photos from
9

• Fethullacilar part of civil society?