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Language
English (en)
Date of Award
3-1-2012
Author's Department
International and Area Studies
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (A.B.)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Restricted
Abstract
In this project I want to look at the narrative that the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) is telling in Turkey. The AKP is marked by its great electoral success and by being one of the first groups to succeed as an Islam-inspired party in the rigidly secular Turkish political establishment. Oftentimes when we are reading the newspapers in the United States or Europe, the AKP and Turkish politics are explained as a situation in black and white terms. One side, the AKP, represents the people and their religious enthusiasm and wishes to turn Turkey to the mid-East, forsaking its Western allies. The other side made up of staunchly secular inheritors of Kemal Ataturk’s legacy who wish to lead Turkey into the European community and full “modernity.” This dichotomy presented in these caricatures ignores important and complex nuances about Turkish political history and the AKP’s intricate development. Religion and nationalism have been mixed for centuries in Anatolia; the Ottomanist ideology of the late 19", early 20" century provides one of the most interesting examples of the an elite attempting to use both religion and nationalism to unite their subjects.” Even Ataturk himself, the great secularist, referenced Turkish Islam and folk practices in his rhetoric and later Republican figures such as Turgut Ozal are well known to be members of Sufi organizations. I hope to explore the history of Ottomanism, the nationalist project, and more recent Turkish Islamist parties in order to illustrate the interconnected roles of religion and nationalism in the history of the Turkish Republic. This should help to reveal the context within which the AKP is working and clarify extant narratives at the time of its founding and also which narratives it is now modifying, resurrecting and recycling.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/ys4c-m351
Mentor
James Wertsch
Recommended Citation
Zemke, Rachel, "Weaving a National Narrative: the AKP project in Turkey" (2012). Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses. 152.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/ys4c-m351
Comments
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