Islamism in Turkey from a socio-political aspect: Post-Islamism oriented approaches

Abstract

Because Islamism emerged as a local socio-political movement in the Turkish modernisation history as an alternative solution to problems in addition to modern ideologies transferred from the West, Islamism has always been a subject of discussion as an important socio-political movement in Turkish political life. However, this movement that emerged in the early periods of the Turkish modernisation history has gone through significant changes in the process to date. Domestic and foreign developments have had an important effect on these changes. Until recently, Islamism claimed to be an alternative to Western political understanding and civilisation, but as a result of being in power lately, it has sought to have a part in the system and to Islamise modernity. This situation constitutes the most important change the Islamic movement has gone through to date. This situation, that is, the transition from being an alternative to being within the system, has brought along debates about whether this can be considered as the end of the Islamic movement, or whether the emerging new situation represents a post-Islamist period. The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the current era of Turkish Islamism indicates a post-Islamist era considering the social and political changes it has undergone from its start to the present day, and to examine the main characteristics of this new era.