Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

In this penetrating work, M. Hakan Yavuz seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of Islamic political identity in Turkey. Yavuz argues that, since Kemal Ataturk's death in 1938 Turkey has been gradually moving away from his militant secularism and experiencing "a quiet Muslim reformation." Islamic political idenmtity is not homogenous, says Yavuz, but can be modern and progressive as well as conservative and potentially authoritarian. While the West has traditionally seen Kemalism as an engine for reform against "reactionary" political Islam, in fact the Kemalist establishment has traditionally used the "Islamic threat" as an excuse to avoid democratization and thus hold onto power. Yavuz offers an account of the "soft coup" of 1997, in which the Kemalist military-bureaucratic establishment overthrew the democratically elected coalition government, which was led by the pro-Islamic Refah party. He argues that the soft coup plunged Turkey into a renewed legitimacy crisis which can only be resolved by the liberalization of the political system. The book ends with a discussion of the most recent parliamentary election in which a party with Islamic roots swept to victory.