Religious Politics in Turkey

From the Birth of the Republic to the AKP

Ceren Lord

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781108472005
• eBook ISBN: 9781108607377
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Since the elections of 2002, Erdogan's AKP has dominated the political scene in Turkey. This period has often been understood as a break from a 'secular' pattern of state-building. But in this book, Ceren Lord shows how Islamist mobilisation in Turkey has been facilitated from within the state by institutions established during early nation-building. Lord thus challenges the traditional account of Islamist AKP's rise that sees it either as a grassroots reaction to the authoritarian secularism of the state or as a function of the state's utilisation of religion. Tracing struggles within the state, Lord also shows how the state's principal religious authority, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) competed with other state institutions to pursue Islamisation. Through privileging Sunni Muslim access to state resources to the exclusion of others, the Diyanet has been a key actor ensuring persistence and increasing salience of religious markers in political and economic competition, creating an amenable environment for Islamist mobilisation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 How Religious Majoritarianism Was Institutionalised in the Early Republic
• 2 The Struggle within the State: The Diyanet and Islamisation
• 3 Shaping the Nation: The Diyanet’s Interventions against Alevism and the Privileging of Sunni Islam
• 4 The Expansion of the Religious Field in the Multi-Party Era
• 5 The Islamist Movement in Turkey and the Emergence of the AKP
• 6 The Rise of the AKP and the Struggle within and for the State since 2002
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Presidents of the Diyanet
• Bibliography
• Index