“Islamic Parties” in the Secularist Regime of Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey where secularism is one of the most important constitutive principles of the state, an “Islamic party” that insists on the introduction of Islamic jurisprudence or the establishment of some sort of Islamic state cannot legally exist. Why then, has a series of political parties, from the National Order Party to the Welfare Party, been regarded as “Islamic” and banned despite their official stance of defending secularism? An analysis of the nature of secularism in Turkey and the parties’ programs and discourse suggests that the conflict is not just over secularism, but rather over the state ideology of modernization as Westernization. Westernizing and secularizing policies, implemented from above under military tutelage, have led to the establishment of vested interests related to both political and economic power, which are an outgrowth of and intertwined with the cultural bias that regards what is Western and secular as superior and “progressive.” In consequence, the “Islamic parties” in Turkey have emerged as forces confronting the repressive secularist regime and its vested interests.