Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

the enduring ottoman legacy 43was constituted by the two contradictory trends of radicalism (by stressing scienceand rationality) and conservatism (by seeking to consolidate state power).Even though they presented themselves as “revolutionary” leaders determinedto change society, they also used the state to consolidate their own power beginningin 1908.Transformation of the Ottoman StateDuring the long reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II, the Ottoman state began topromote Islamic nationalism. Profound changes within and outside the Ottomanstate facilitated the promotion of this Islamic political consciousness. Thecycle of wars and reforms revitalized religious identities, and nineteenthcenturyOttoman nationalist discourse was framed in terms of Islamic identity.The Ottoman political elite utilized Islamic concepts to promote the idea of territoryas the new foundation for statehood and to disseminate the view that thefatherland comprised the space that was necessary for the survival of this Islamiccommunity. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman elite hadbegun to use fragments of Ottoman-Islamic political thinking to articulatenew concepts such as homeland (vatan), 18 nation (millet), and public opinion(kamuoyu). 19Bureaucratically led reform policies, such as the Tanzimat, sought to shiftthe center of loyalty from the sultan to a more broadly based understanding oflegal citizenship and to promote the concept of “Ottoman” nationhood. Realizingthe diYculty of creating a nation through strictly legalistic means, the statebureaucrats stressed the necessity of a common cultural axis in forming a nation.Islam was presented as a vital part of the cultural glue that would hold thepopulation together. The state invoked an Islamic identity to blend variousMuslim ethnic groups into a “Muslim nation” after the 1878 war. This constituteda major revolution in the Ottoman state tradition. The source of legitimacybegan to shift from the Ottoman dynasty toward the caliphate and the Muslimcommunity; a new center of loyalty began to develop, along with more concreteconcepts of homeland. This feeling, in turn, gave impetus to the rise of the notionof citizenship in the Ottoman state. The existence of the state was rationalizedby the need to ensure the survival of the nation.As the state began to fragment as a result of Balkan national movementsgrounded in the nationalisms of their respective churches, a massive inXux ofBalkan and Caucasian Muslim refugees into Anatolia took place. The Russianand Balkan states’ atrocities these Muslims described served as a catalyst for anew Islamic political and national consciousness following the 1878 Treaty ofBerlin, which reduced Ottoman territory by two-Wfths and resulted in the lossof one-half of its subjects, including one-Wfth of its Muslim population. 20 Themigrations from territories ceded to European powers under the Treaty of Berlintransformed the multireligious empire into a Muslim country. After the treatyleft Muslims as the clear majority in the Ottoman state, its promotion as thespiritual home of Muslims proved to be easier. Over four million Muslims mi-