Table Of ContentIslam and Nationalism Series
Series Editors:
Umut Ozkirimli, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University
Spyros A. Sofos, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University
International Advisory Board:
Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy,
Yale University
Sondra Hale, Research Professor and Professor Emerita, Departments of
Anthropology and Gender Studies, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Deniz Kandiyoti, Professor Emerita, Development Studies, School of Oriental
and African Studies, University of London.
Saba Mahmood, Associate Professor, Sociocultural Anthropology, University of
California, Berkeley.
Jørgen S. Nielsen, Danish National Research Foundation Professor, Center for
European Islamic Thought, University of Copenhagen
James Piscatori, Head, School of Government and International Studies,
Durham University
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor in the Humanities,
Columbia University
Bryan S. Turner, Presidential Professor of Sociology and Director, Committee
on Religion, The Graduate Center, the City University of New York; Director,
Religion and Society Centre, University of Western Sydney.
Peter van der Veer, Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious
and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen
Nira Yuval-Davis, Director, Research Center on Migration, Refugees and
Belonging, University of East London
Sami Zubaida, Emeritus Professor, Department of Politics, Birkbeck College
One of the main objectives of this series is to explore the relationship between
Islam, nationalism and citizenship in its diverse expressions. The series intends to
provide a space for approaches that recognize the potential of Islam to permeate
and inspire national forms of identification, and systems of government as well
as its capacity to inspire oppositional politics, alternative modes of belonging and
the formation of counterpublics in a variety of local, national or transnational
contexts.
By recognizing Islam as a transnational phenomenon and situating it within
transdisciplinary and innovative theoretical contexts, the series will showcase
approaches that examine aspects of the formation and activation of Muslim
experience, identity and social action. In order to do justice to, and make better
sense of contemporary Islam, the series also seeks to combine the best of current
comparative, genuinely interdisciplinary research that takes on board cutting-
edge work in sociology, anthropology, nationalism studies, social movement
research and cultural studies as well as history and politics. As research on Islam as
a form of identity is rapidly expanding and as interest both within the academia
and the policy community is intensifying, we believe that there is an urgent need
for coherent and innovative interventions, identifying the questions that will
shape ongoing and future research and policy, and exploring and formulating
conceptual and methodological responses to current challenges.
The proposed series is intended to play a part in such an effort. It will do so by
addressing a number of key questions that we and a large number of specialist
interlocutors within the academia, the policy community, but also within Muslim
organizations and networks have been grappling with. Our approach is premised
on our understanding of Islam and the concept of the nation as resources for
social identification and collective action in the broadest sense of these terms,
and the need to explore the ways in which these interact with each other, inform
public debate, giving rise to a diversity of experiences and practices.
We would like to thank The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University,
for their support in initiating the series.
Titles include:
Fuat Keyman and Sebnem Gumuscu
DEMOCRACY, IDENTITY AND FOREIGN POLICY IN TURKEY
Hegemony Through Transformation
Olivier Roy and Nadia Marzouki (editors)
RELIGIOUS CONVERSIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
Spyros A. Sofos and Roza Tsagarousianou (editors)
ISLAM IN EUROPE
Public Spaces and Civic Networks
The Islam and Nationalism series
Series standing order ISBN 978–0230–30492–5 (paperback)
978–0230–30491–8 (cased)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order.
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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Democracy, Identity,
and Foreign Policy
in Turkey
Hegemony through Transformation
E. Fuat Keyman
Professor and Director, Istanbul Policy Center, Sabanci University, Turkey
and
Sebnem Gumuscu
Lecturer, Sabanci University, Turkey
© E. Fuat Keyman and Sebnem Gumuscu 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-0-230-35427-2
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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ISBN 978-1-349-34632-5 ISBN 978-1-137-27712-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137277121
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Contents
List of Illustrations vi
Preface and Acknowledgments vii
List of Abbreviations ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Turkey’s Transformation 1 1
3 Constructing Hegemony: The AKP Rule 2 9
4 AKP’s Hegemony and Democratic Consolidation 4 4
5 Turkey’s Proactive Foreign Policy under the AKP 70
6 Turkish Foreign Policy in the Aftermath of the
Arab Uprisings 8 4
7 The AKP, Arab Uprisings, and the Kurdish Question 96
8 Democracy, Secularism, and Identity 116
9 Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation 143
10 C onclusion: Turkey at the Crossroads – Democratization
through the Strong EU Anchor 1 63
Notes 1 69
Bibliography 1 89
Index 1 97
v
List of Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Major processes of transformation in Turkey 1 7
2.2 Multidimensional transformation in Turkey 1 7
3.1 Elections and referendums in Turkey, 2002–2011 3 5
Tables
3.1 Election and referendum results, 2002–2011 3 4
5.1 Turkish foreign policy and proactivism 7 9
Map
3.1 National elections in Turkey, 2011 3 6
vi
Preface and Acknowledgments
In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in Turkey and its
capacity to achieve a secular constitutional democracy in a dominantly
Muslim society. Moreover, Turkey’s pivotal and regional power role in
world politics, its dynamic economy, and its domestic cultural and urban
transformation have become even more important. Furthermore, what
has come to be known as the “AKP experience,” that is, a party emerging
from within political Islam and claiming to be a center-right party has
been governing Turkey as a strong majority government and a domi-
nant party, since 2002, has been key to Turkey’s recent transformation.
Much has been written, said, and discussed about the recent history of
Turkey. This book does not intend to yield yet another study on Turkey
and the AKP experience. Though it deals with it, this book takes as its
main focus the question of democracy in relation to transformation.
To what extent has Turkey’s transformation led to democracy and its
consolidation? Is there a disconnect between economic, cultural, and
urban transformation on the one hand, and democratic consolidation on
the other? How do we situate the AKP experience and its active globali-
zation in a broader democratization of Turkey? In this book we suggest
that the AKP experience has given rise to a set of radical transformations
in Turkey, in which what we have observed is a significant power shift
from the status quo to the new political and state elite, leading to an
emergence of new hegemony. We offer a critical reading of the process
of transformation and hegemony, in a way to further suggest that while
the former leads to the latter, it does not ipso facto guarantee advancing
or consolidating democracy. The relationship among transformation,
hegemony, and democracy has been a puzzle whose construction, as
well as its possible solutions, is explored in detail in this book. That is
why we use as our subtitle H egemony through Transformation .
What makes Turkey’s experience important and compelling is that it is
neither parochial nor unique. It has been from the outset embedded in the
local, national, regional, and global interactions. Turkey’s active globali-
zation, its European journey, its urbanization, its dynamic economy and
new middle classes and entrepreneur culture, and its foreign policy are
all being affected by local–global nexus, and simultaneously affecting
regional and global developments. In this sense, to talk about Turkey
has been, and is, to talk about regional and global politics. The emphasis
vii
viii Preface and Acknowledgments
on global also differentiates our book from those focusing exclusively
either on domestic factors or on foreign policy issues. We combine and
critically analyze the dialectic between domestic transformations and
global/regional dynamics. That is why we named the book, Democracy,
Identity, and Foreign Policy in Turkey .
This book would have not been possible without the valuable help and
contributions that we received from the following friends and colleagues:
Ayse Kadioglu, Meltem Muftuler-Bac, Nihat Berker, Engin Isin, Feyzi
Baban, Seyla Benhabib, Nilufer Gole, Cengiz Aktar, Andrew Arato, Derya
Sazak, Ziya Onis, Nora Fisher Onar, Ilkim Buke, Ilke Civelekoglu, and
Meryem Kosehasanogullari. We also thank Erdag Aksel for allowing us
to use one of his sculptures for the cover of the book.
We are grateful to Gulnur Kocapinar and Meltem Ersoy for their
meticulous and industrious work on the editing and formatting of this
book. Many thanks to anonymous readers for their valuable comments
and suggestions that have made the book much better, and to our editors
Umut Ozkirimli and Spyros Sofos, whose suggestion to write a book like
this on Turkey in fact motivated us to pursue this project. Finally, thanks
to Amber Stone-Galilee and Andrew Baird from Palgrave Macmillan for
their editorial contributions.
List of Abbreviations
AKP J ustice and Development Party
ANAP M otherland Party
BDP P eace and Democracy Party
CHP R epublican People’s Party
DEHAP D emocratic People’s Party
DEP D emocracy Party
DTP D emocratic Society Party
EU E uropean Union
FP V irtue Party
HEP P eople’s Labor Party
HSYK S upreme Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors
KCK U nion of Kurdish Communities
MB M uslim Brotherhood
MGK N ational Security Council
MHP N ationalist Action Party
MUSIAD I ndependent Industrialists and Businessmen Association
PKK K urdistan Workers’ Party
RTUK S upreme Council of Radio and Television
TUSIAD T urkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association
UN U nited Nations
YOK C ouncil of Higher Education
ix
