Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

98 islamic political identity in turkeythe 8skenderpa7a SuW order, for example, regularly meet to discuss social andreligious issues in Wve-star hotels. They even have their own shopping malls andhave developed haute bourgeoisie tastes. New members of the 8skenderpa7aorder are encouraged to internalize new sets of norms and roles. Through redeWningconsumer patterns, these Islamists seek to diVerentiate themselves Wrstfrom other Islamic groups and then from the Kemalist/secularist section ofsociety. The 8skenderpa7a order seeks a foretaste of heaven by validating a materialparadise on earth. The asceticism of the Nak7ibendis and Nurcus, coupledwith their positive views of capitalist proWt, have played a key role in the accumulationof capital and the economic development of Turkey. God is reinventedfor the needs of the capitalist market. However, this stress on capitalist virtuesinevitably undermines asceticism in the long run, as Weber demonstrates withrespect to the Protestant ethic.Consumption patterns in modern Turkey reify and articulate diVerences inidentities. Muslim journals and television stations, through their ad campaigns,clearly demarcate the boundaries of consumption and class interests. Consumptionpatterns thus signify who Islamists are and to which social group they belong.Consumption is not limited to the purchase of goods but also encompassessuch activities as enrolling children in the private high schools run by the neo-Nurcu followers of Fethullah Gülen, watching the TGRT and Samanyolu televisionchannels (both Islamic), and listening to the BURÇ and AKRA (both Islamic)radio stations. The Islamic movements have their own music companies, cafes,restaurants, and publishing houses. Thus a feature of modern Turkish Islamicidentity formation is that vertical Islamic movements are bending under thestress of class distinctions and thus Wnd themselves on a plain with horizontalIslam. Indeed, God has come down to earth, and Muslims are preoccupied withbuilding his kingdom here.The Wve-star Caprice Hotel is an example of how “Islamic holidays” havebeen invented in accordance with modern consumerism. It represents a mixtureof Islam and capitalism. The luxury hotel is a site where modernity intermingleswith Islam and molds the conduct and expectations of Muslims inaccordance with the capitalist system. In order to capture the business of increasinglyprosperous Muslims, this “Islamicized” hotel neither sells nor servesalcohol and maintains gender-segregated swimming pools. Its customs are thoseof the traditionally inclined Anatolian bourgeoisie, who support full economicliberalization against the “statist” Istanbul-based oligarchs. While more conservativeMuslims have criticized the presentation of the Caprice Hotel as an “Islamicvacation site” and contend that it is evidence of the total dominance ofneoliberal values over Islamic ones, 53 one may argue that this hotel representsthe internal secularization of Islam, that is, making Islam into a commodity forthe sake of market competition. This is not an act of “Islamic radicalism” butrather a reconstitution of Islam within modern conditions.As Islamic groups move to diVerentiate themselves from others in terms ofpatterns of consumption, they do not enhance individualization but ratherrepersonalize social interactions. In contrast with the late Ottoman Empire,where the introduction of Western fashion and consumer products encouraged