Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

22 islamic political identity in turkeygender, status/class, ethnic, regional, tribal, territorial, or linguistic. Thesemultiple layers of identity allow individuals to create and negotiate multiple andoverlapping self-constructs and loyalties. Thus, among the questions that needto be examined are: When and under what conditions is Islamic religious identitytransformed into something with a concrete communal aspect? Under whatcircumstances is the Islamic layer of identity emphasized over tribal or ethnicidentities? Can the community adhere to both an Islamic and a national politicalidentity simultaneously? I contend that Islamic political consciousness, as itdevelops in relation to other identities and within diVering contexts such as thatof a state-based nationalism in a secular state, must be understood as a contextual,relational, and situational phenomenon.In this study, Islamic political identity is treated as a contingent and relationalentity. By contingent I mean that Islamic political identity is dependenton the construction of diVerence vis-à-vis an “other” that helps to deWne identitiesin an ongoing process. By relational I mean that the social powers that helpto construct diVerence are not closed systems but rather are constructed in oppositionalmoments. In other words, every identity, by deWnition, carries its“other” within it as a constituting element. The “signiWcant other” is not onlyan oppositional “other” but also a constitutive part of identity. No identity hasits own self-referential standpoint. In the case of Islamic political identity, oneis confronted with internal “others” within competing Islamic movements aswell as with the external “other” (i.e., the secular state or “the West”).In the construction of Islamic political identity, one needs to take the processesof modernity and imagination into account to understand the way Islamicmovements become agents of identity formation. The experiment of modernityresulted in the formation of new opportunity spaces within which Muslimsimagine Islamic identity and reconWgure new social relations. The demands ofmodernity and the human ability to imagine, interpret, and adjust to such contingenciesare the main forces promoting the contemporary construction ofIslamic political identity. The practical and theoretical bridge between modernityand imagination is built through the praxis of social movements. By modernityI do not mean a state-led transformation according to so-called universalprinciples that lead to the emergence of a “Westernized” society. Instead, I meanthe ability of a society to transform itself in the face of modern conditions withoutfutile attempts to shed completely its past culture and identity. One of themajor implications of modernity is the autonomization of politics and othersocial spheres from all-encompassing ideologies, for example, religion or secularism.The attempts by Islamic groups to cope with the fragmentary natureof modernity have created contradictory positions and languages. These contradictionsimpel Islamic movements toward a more liberal and pluralistic selfunderstanding.These contradictions and ruptures within Islamic movementsprovide the breeding ground for the emergence of a modern civil society.In recent years, the Nak7ibendi orders and Nurcu movements in Turkey havestruggled to free marginal voices from the dominance of the authoritarian stateby using modern methods of mass communication. These movements shouldnot be treated simply as reactionary opponents of modernity but as challenges