Future of the Political Islam in Turkey

By Mustafa Salah

The growing influence of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey since it has assumed power in November 2002 posed many questions about the fate of the new Islamic ascension in a secular-based country that was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

Atatürk applied the theory of secularisation on the Republic of Turkey in all spheres of life to create a national state on the remains of the Ottoman empire. However, through the democratic sphere created by Atatürk, the Islamists seized the opportunity to seek power in the wake of the World War II.

In 1945, former Turkish President İsmet İnönü announced that an opposition political party should exist to activate the political life in Turkey, aiming to defuse a state of political tension created in the country at that time. So, the Islamic-rooted parties exploited the secularists-tailored democracy to “reinstate the Islamic empire.”

Inside the Kemalist ruling Republican People’s Party (CHP), voices of opposition raised and led by four parliamentarians: Celâl Bayar, Adnan Menderes, Fuat Köprülü , Rafiq Quartlan. They founded  in 1946 the Democrat Party (DP), which was joined by a large numbers of politicians Turkish elites; it had become a popular desire for change. During the 1946 parliamentarian election, DP garnered 61 lawmakers and later was joined by 47 others dissented from the CHP.

In 1950, the conservative DP won the parliamentary election for the first time with landslide victory after receiving 403 seats out of 482, beating the ruling CHP. Consequently, Celâl Bayar became the President of Turkey, while Adnan Menderes was appointed as the Prime Minister, forming a new shape of the government carrying some of old political, cultural, and social ideologies of the Ottoman empire.

In spite of the fact that the DP was not an Islamic-rooted party, its leaders were known of their Islamic tendency. Over ten years of his tenure,  Menderes issued a number of decisions; he decreed that the Islamic Adhan (Islamic call for prayer) and Quran (Muslim’s holy book) should be stated in Arabic language not only the Turkish one. He also opened the first institute of Shari’a teachings (Islamic rules) in 1923, and opened centres of teaching the Quran, in an attempt to remove the identity of secular Turkey.

Erdoğan’s tight grip

Like other Islamists, current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan exploited “secularism” to reinstate the Islamic life to Turkey, although he does not openly talk about his hostility to the secularism. Erdoğan re-opened Imam Hatip schools, the secondary education institutions to train the governmental Imams. He also lifted the headscarf ban in the Universities after a long battle before the state’s constitutional court ended in 2014, abolishing Atatürk’s educational reforms.

Furthermore, Erdogan strengthened his constitutional power when a public referendum was conducted on April 17, 2017 to broaden his authorities as a President. A total of 18 articles were amended; most notably giving the President the full powers of the executive authority [after it was in the prime minister’s duties] and the leadership of the army, and the abolishment of the prime minister post. Also the amendments stipulate that the president shall not disassociate his political party, and the number of parliament members shall be increased from 550 to 600 parliamentarians.

The Turkish President also announced that the parliamentary and presidential elections would carry out on July 24, 2018 despite that the elections were due to convene on November 3, 2019. The early election was seen as a way to pass above-mentioned amendments.

Erdogan’s tendency to change the Turkish secular policies appeared in 2014 when the Council of Higher Education introduced the Sunni teachings of Islam into the governmental schools. He also allowed 25 percent of the valedictorians to enrol into Imam Khatib schools. Moreover, his ruling regime approved the religious marriage.

In November 2014, he stated that Islam had limited the role of women in society in “motherhood”, alleging that men and women should not be treated equally as “it contradicts human nature.”

“Secularism means being tolerant to all faiths, the state is neutral in matters of religions and stands from the same distance towards all religions and beliefs. Is this un-Islamic? Or does it not contradict with Islam? But there are those who try to reinterpret this by introducing new concepts. In the past years, we always regarded secularism as anti-religion; secularism became an equivalent to atheism. We said no. Secularism means that the state guarantees freedoms to all groups, without privileging one over the other. That is our understanding of secularism,” Erdogan told al-Arabiya net in an interview on February 18, 2017.

In his book “The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey” published in 2008, senior Political scientist at RAND Corporation Angel Rabasa predicted that Erdogan’s Islamic ruling party has a secret anti-secularism agenda to “islamize the Turkish society” after assuming power. Rabasa also predicted that Erdogan would take control over both legislative and executive powers and his ruling party would be authorised in appointing judges, heads of universities and administrators. He also will control the army. At the level of foreign policy, Rabasa said that the ruling party will not seek membership of the European Union (EU) but will seek to establish a new (Islamic bloc) in the world. Most of Rabasa’s expectations came true.

So, Turkey is witnessing a coup against the secularism by Erdogan; mosques of Turkey are open all day and veiled women assumed positions in judiciary, police and army. He is adopting a long-term strategy of “Islamizing” the state and society, even if he did not speak out his hostility to secularism.

Possible Scenarios of Turkish political life

The early Turkish Presidential and Parliamentary elections on June 24, which called by AKP-ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçel, has painted three possible scenarios on the political life.

1- Islamists’ growing dominance

In case that the ruling AKP won in the general elections, it will retain its influence of newly-applied Islamic decisions on the state, particularly after the 2016 Turkish coup d’état attempt against Erdogan, which resulted in massive detention campaigns against the oppositions, violating the human rights.

On July 15, 2016, a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces organised a coup to take control over the state’s institutions, but they thwarted by forces loyal to Erdogan.

2- Opposition Alliance

Erdogan’s opponents could form an alliance against his increasing influence. Since he has declared the early elections,the opposition parties named many rivals to compete against him the presidential election, raising the possibility of narrowing its popularity that saw a decline during the constitutional amendments on April 14, 2017.

As per the referendum results, 51.4 percent of Turkish people voted for the referendum against 48.6 percent voted “no”. The narrow difference in the results showed that AKP popularity declined particularly in Ankara and Istanbul.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) nominated lawmaker Muharrem Ince for presidency.Also, Iyi (Good) Party nominated its chairperson and former Interior Minister Meral Aksener for the election race. Meanwhile, the Islamist political Felicity Party (SP), which has no parliament representation for 17 years, named its leader Temel Karamollaoğlu for the presidency race.

3- Escalation of social and political tensions

Anti-Erdogan protests and demonstrations were staged following the 2016 coup d’etat attempt, which he exploited to get rid off his rivals. The political tensions were escalated after the massive arrest campaigns launched against the opposition; more than 50,000 people were arrested and around 150,000 state’s employees were suspended.

More than 170 media institutions and publication houses were closed since the state of emergency has been declared in July 2016, following the coup d’etat attempt.

On World Press Freedom Day last year, the Amnesty International called for the immediate unconditional release for all journalists detained in Turkey. “No country has larger number of detained journalists more than Turkey. ‘Press freedom’ is detained there,” said Markus N. Beeko is the General Secretary of the German section of Amnesty International on May 2, 2017.

The roots of the Political Islam in Turkey

Islamic movements did not leave the political arena even after the declaration of the secular Republic of Turkey; Turkish Sufi movements had a significant role in the history of the Turkish political Islam.

The 1924 Constitution of Turkey allowed Sufi movements to work freely to an extent that Sheikhs of such movements had seats in the parliament, including Sheikh Abdel-Halim, head of Konya Madrasas , and Sheikh Jamal el-Din for Bektashi Order in Kırşehir city.

However, confrontations broke out between the regime and the sufi movements in 1925, when the state passed laws banned the movements’ activities and shut down them, saying that the movements’ activities “could harm the principles of new Republic.”

Consequently, Kurd Sheikh of Sunni order Sheikh Said  Piran tried to stage a rebellion known as “The Sheikh Said Rebellion” in the eastern and south-east parts in Turkey against the secular regime. However Piran’s attempt failed and ended by his arrest and execution by hanging. After a series of confrontations, those movements worked secretly and entered the politics scenes behind the closed doors.

Flashing back to the Ottoman Caliphate, the Sufi movements played an important role in politics and society since the 3rd century AH (816 CE – 913 CE); they had great influence over the governing bodies in the state as Sufi men were participating in wars and conquest campaigns for the Ottoman army, achieving many victories. Major Sunni spiritual orders of Sufism movements include the Naqshbandi, Rifa’iyah, Mawlawi, and Bektashi. In addition, the Nursi order, which was founded by Aziz Üstad Bediüzzaman Said Nursi and considered one of the most influential sufi order in Turkey.

Nowadays, the islamic parties and movements see that the Turkey identified secularism in an excessive way to extent that “it downsized the religion’s role in the society.”

In January 1970, Necmettin Erbakan- who was Prime Minister from 1996 to 1997- founded a new Islamic-based National Order Party (MNP), which focused on the religious teachings and freedom of religion. The party was defiant to the secularism.

Erbakan voiced his desire to link Turkey culturally and historically with Muslim and Arab countries. He called upon all Muslims  to unite under the Islamic slogans raised by his party. However, Turkish authorities accused him and his party of “violating the laws regulating the partisan affairs and the secularism principles” on March 5, 1971. Two weeks later, the Turkish constitutional court ruled to ban the party’s activities and to shut down its headquarters nationwide.

After banning his party, Erbakan founded a new one. On November 12, 1972, he announced the  formation of the National Salvation Party (NSP), which was chaired by Süleyman Arif Emre. The Salvation Party was not different from The National  Order Party. But NSP was not openly critic against the secularism.

The NSP successed to create an alliance with other different Islamic parties, namely the Kemalist CHP in 1974 and with the AKP in 1975. In 1978, Erbakan was appointed as the Prime Minister deputy, while many of his supporters assumed ministerial positions. So Erbakan was the first Islamist leader came to power after being elected  as Prime Minister.

Three years after the 1980 Turkish coup d’état, another party called Motherland Party (ANAP) was founded and led by y Turgut Özal. The ANAP control over the power until 1989, when the parliament elected Özal as the President of Turkey. After assuming the power, a state of division was created among the party members, forming two groups; the first İslamic conservative group led by Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel and the second Liberal secular group led by Mesut Yılmaz.

Another Islamic-rooted conservative party [True Path Party (DYP)] won the election in 1991, forming a coalition government  between the DYP and CHP. However, after the death of Turgut Ozal in 1993 under mysterious circumstances, the Welfare Party (RP) was formed in July 1983 and considered an extension of the Islamic National Salvation Party. the RP and DYP took control over power despite the ban imposed on the Islamic parties since 1980 coup d’etat in 1980.

Due to Erbakan’s several anti-secularism decisions, the Turkish authorities banned the Islamic-based parties; RP activities were banned by a court ruling in accordance with 1982 Law over charges of “seeking to apply the Sharia and establishing a “retrograde regime.” As per the court ruling, Erbakan along with members of his party, including Erdogan, were detained and banned from practicing the political rights for 5-10 years.

Since then, the secular state, particularly the military institution, has not expected that it would be fought by RP, which is later turned into the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Since the AKP has assumed power in 2002, it was working on “Islamisation of the state.”

<<Sources>>

1- http://english.alarabiya.net/en/webtv/reports/2017/02/17/Erdogan-to-Turki-Aldakhil-This-is-my-understanding-of-secularism.html

2- https://www.amnesty.de/2017/5/3/amnesty-fordert-freiheit-fuer-inhaftierte-journalisten-der-tuerkei

3- http://democraticac.de/?p=48886 Democratic Arabic Center by Mustafa Saleh

4- The Turkish new role in the Middle East under the new Ottoman Concept by Mustafa Saleh: http://democraticac.de/?p=46797

5- Turkish Islamists between political Islam and new Ottomanism by Khurshid Daly: https://www.wahdaislamyia.org/issues/159/kdalli.htm

6- The rise of Political Islam in Turkey by Ahmed Samir: https://tipyan.com/the-rise-of-political-islam-in-turkey/

7- The historical path of political Islam in Turkey by Galal Selmi: http://www.almayadeen.net/books/839679/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A7

8- Turkish Mask of political Islam in the Arab region by Mohamed Jamil Ahmed: http://www.hafryat.com/blog/%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%82%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9/1789

9-  The impact of political Islam on Turkish foreign policy by Al-Mayadeen channel on February 17, 2015: http://www.almayadeen.net/episodes/747582/_%D8%AA%D8%A3%D8%AB%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%A9

10- Political Islam in Turkey by Orient net on April 12, 2016: http://orient-news.net/ar/news_show/108962/0/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A7