Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

the national outlook movement and the rise of the refah party 211sitional Muslim identity. According to Altan Tan, a prominent Kurdish-Islamistintellectual, the Kurds always supported the pro-Islamic parties, even on thoseoccasions when the party did poorly in the western provinces. Tan oVers tworeasons: “the most serious organizational framework for the Islamic movementin Turkey is of Kurdish origin. The Kurdish region is where Islam traditionallyis lived.” 19 Tan argues that the “Kurdish negative reaction to this laic/Kemalistsystem is more religious than it is ethnic. . . . Both the MNP and MSP were basedon this traditional opposition to the system.” 20 By organizational framework,Tan means to highlight the role of the Nak7ibendi SuW orders and the Nurmovement, in which Turkey’s Kurds played a critical role.In the provinces where there is a sizeable Alevi population and traditionalconXict with Sunnis (e.g., Erzurum, Kahramanmara7, Malatya, and Sivas), theMSP did better than in those provinces where there was no sectarian tension.Other provinces where the MSP regularly increased its vote were the SunniKurdish provinces of Elazì;, Adìyaman, Diyarbakìr, and Bingöl. The identiWcationof Alevi voters with the Kemalist CHP helped the MSP to emerge as therepresentative of Turkish and Kurdish Sunni Islam.The main political challenge the MSP faced was the war over Cyprus in 1974.After occupying 40 percent of Cyprus and safeguarding the threatened Turkishminority, Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit and Deputy Prime Minister Erbakanbecame national heroes. As people began to call Erbakan ghazi (a warrior of thefaith), Ecevit sought to erode the popularity of his rival and searched for anopportunity to end the coalition. 21 Although his plan for early elections failed,Ecevit eventually broke the coalition on September 18, 1974. However, the MSPjoined the First National Front coalition government led by Süleyman Demirel(April 1975 to June 1977), and Erbakan became deputy prime minister; otherMSP members became ministers of state, the interior, justice, food and agriculture,industry and technology, and construction.In the early parliamentary elections of 1977, the MSP’s share of the votedeclined to 8.6 percent, 22 primarily because of the emergence of the MHP, whichattracted popular support in the Sunni-dominated Turkish cities because of itsradical strategies of opposing leftist Alevi and Kurdish groups. In addition, theNurcu groups deserted the MSP in large numbers in 1977, taking with them 11seats in Parliament. 23 The party did not oVer any concrete solutions to thecountry’s problems and was seen as being overly ideological. 24 The MSP joinedthe Second National Front Coalition, composed of the AP, the MSP, and theMHP, and held 24 seats in Parliament between July 21 and December 31, 1977.This government did not last long because there were profound political diVerencesbetween the coalition partners. In January 1978, Bülent Ecevit, the leaderof the CHP, established a new government by bribing 11 ex-AP deputies withministerial posts. However, he failed to cope with rising inXation and terrorism.Moreover, the oil crisis greatly exacerbated the hard currency and tradedeWcits. The local elections on October 14,1979, revealed the unpopularity ofthe Ecevit government and forced him to resign. On November 12, 1979, theMSP supported a minority coalition government led by Süleyman Demirel; thislasted until the September 1980 military coup.