Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

266 islamic political identity in turkeypreoccupation with secularism as deWning “modernity” and Islam as deWning“backwardness.” But in Turkey the Islamic movements have been neitherantimodern nor backward. Rather they are identity and justice-seeking movements.Such movements seek to reclaim the Muslim “self,” which is perceivedas being robbed of its authenticity and identity. Islamic groups use “new opportunityspaces” where they can develop and experience novel lifestyles and identities.For example, Turkish Muslims utilize the printed page, television screens,and educational institutions to act in concert to rearticulate a new Islamic identity,ethics, and justice. These spaces signify diVerentiation, contestation, andmultiple articulations of “self” and oVer frames of reference. The growth of themodern media and the expansion of universal education, instead of weakeningthe role and inXuence of Islam, have led to its redeWnition as a dynamic form ofpolitical and social consciousness.These identity-oriented Islamic movements of Turkey are interconnectedwith the processes of political participation and economic liberalization. Indeed,the democratization process and Islamic movements have become so intertwinedthat it is almost impossible to determine where one begins and the other ends.This study of Islam in Turkey contrasts sharply with traditional studies of Islamicmovements—usually focused on topics such as the Islamic Salvation Frontin Algeria and the Iranian revolution—that have concluded that Islamicallyframed political movements constitute an obstacle to political participation. Thiserroneous conclusion is based on a set of problematic assumptions that religiousideas and institutions are in conXict with reform and compromise. In thisstudy, I have argued that the obstacle to the peaceful transformation of manyMuslim societies is not religious movements but rather the lack of political andeconomic liberalization. Political and economic liberalization of the state andeconomy would prevent any hegemonic and totalistic views (Islamic or Kemalist)from dominating everyday life. Various Islamic sociopolitical movements are,of course, not only active in Turkey but also map and mark contemporary politicsin many Muslim countries, from Bosnia to Malaysia and from Kazakhstanto Nigeria. Issues of social justice and demands for authenticity in terms ofcultural and political identity remain the two major concepts around which thesemovements have evolved. This global phenomenon prompts scholars of comparativepolitics to ask: Do Islamic movements reveal something about the commonconditions of Muslims and the role of religion in politics? By examiningthe processes of “framing sociopolitical issues,” I have indicated that Islam as arepertoire of images and actions helps Muslims to form their conception of agood society and identity. These movements shape them and in turn help toshape the social world they inhabit. Thus Islamic movements become reactionaryor radical if the state they operate in is authoritarian and does not allow roomfor economic liberalization.The main Islamic social movements studied here shifted from their desireto resist and co-opt the state to more society-centric movements because of theopening of new opportunity spaces, changing state-society relations, and economicand cultural liberalization. These movements, therefore, are productivein that they are redeWning and reproducing new social webs of interactions.