Turkey under Challenge: Conflicting Ideas and Forces
Abstract
The author argues that in spite of its pro-European makeup, the AKP stands within
the tradition of political Islam. The party supports Turkey’s integration with
the EU, foreign investments and privatization, but at the same time it undermines
secularism, the fundamental constitutional principle of the Turkish state. It uses
its pro-Western rhetoric and pro-business attitude as an instrument to achieve its
political goals. It attempts to replace the secular identity of Turkey with an Islamic
religious identity. It thus opens the gate for the country’s complete transformation,
from a secular to a religious state. Without secularism that the Kemalist
establishment defends, Turkey will be neither democratic nor truly pro-European.
Hence, the author claims, the AKP does not deserve the support it gets from the
Western press and EU politicians.