Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

the national outlook movement and the rise of the refah party 221that a new conceptualization and a new phase of modernity has coincided withthat of Islamization. The two are in a rather causal relationship, contrary to whatsome scholars imply when they suggest that Islamism is a reaction to the consequencesof modernity. It is this correlative relationship that often leads scholarseither to befuddlement or simplistic generalizations concerning religion andcontemporary Turkey’s sociopolitical conditions. The study of the rise of the RPrequires a bottom up approach to the developmental issues and cultural representationsof justice and identity.The most appealing program that the RP presented was the Just Order platform(Adil Düzen), and most supporters identiWed social equity as the mainobjective of the Just Order system. 45 An analysis of the Just Order program revealsa hybrid ideological agenda that straddles the divide between a free-marketand a state-led mixed economy with the aim of accommodating competing demandswithout oVering concrete solutions to the contradictions between them.The Just Order is based on a theoretical charter that university professors underthe leadership of Süleyman Karagülle and Süleyman Akdemir, who foundedTurkey’s Wrst Muslim commune, the Akevler KooperatiW in Izmir, introducedfor the party in 1985. Its aim was the creation of a pluralistic, democratic, andfree market–based civil society. 46 The charter envisioned a society consisting ofcommunes and similar settlements that would cooperate on common issuesand services. Advocating less state intervention and more individual responsibility,the charter was prepared by professional economists and social scientistson the basis of Islamic principles. It marked one of the Wrst times a group ofMuslim professionals used Islamic precepts to justify notions usually associatedwith liberal ideologies, namely pluralism, democracy, the free market, andindividual responsibility. The charter thus exempliWes a lack of tension betweenIslamic beliefs and liberal ideals, demonstrating that Islam is compatible withmodernity, even with some features of secularism as commonly understood inthe West.Erbakan gradually integrated the charter into the RP’s program. It was presentedand accepted as the Just Order Project for the 1991 parliamentary electionwith the publication of a booklet, Just Economic Order, under Erbakan’sname. 47 This tract demonstrated the RP’s commitment to economic growth,social justice, and national prosperity. However, its economic ideas often areconfused, and it failed to address adequately the contradictions inherent in itspromises of social justice and equity along with rapid export-oriented capitalistdevelopment. For example, Erbakan has argued that the Just Order will be realizedby the cooperation of seven major “armies”: (1) the devout people; (2) religiousauthorities and leaders who will be the architects of a greater Turkey; (3)scientists and university professors; (4) engineers and economists who will preparethe projects to turn natural resources into developed industries; (5) businessmenwho will implement the projects; (6) guilds; and (7) labor, includingworkers, farmers, and white-collar workers. These “seven armies,” accordingto Erbakan, will build a powerful industrially and technologically advancedTurkey that eventually will lead the Muslim world. 48 In addition, a stable, wellorderedsociety will emerge if Turkey achieves four objectives: a Milli Görü7