The new US president, Barack Obama, is visiting Turkey in early April. It is going to be Obama’s first visit to an Islamic country. Many commentators attributed this early visit to the value of Turkey’s “identity” for Obama’s foreign policy priorities, not to its “geopolitical location” as it used to be.
The value of Turkey lies in its ability to reconcile its Islamic identity with democratic politics, free-market economy and pro-Western foreign policy orientation. Thus the “new Turkish identity” has become a more valuable “strategic asset” to prevent a clash of civilizations.
With such attributes the new Turkey is ever more capable of bridging the Islamic world and the West, contributing to the global coexistence of different cultures and civilizations.
What enabled this was not the practice of “authoritarian secularism” in an Islamic country but, on the contrary, an embracing of modern political values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law by Islamic circles, leading to a transformation of Islamic political identity in Turkey over the last decade. Questioning their past identity, political strategy, discourse, and objectives, the Islamic elements have abandoned the notion of an Islamic state -- not only out of political prudence but also incompatibility between Islam and an ideological Islamic state. In the end, they have settled for a democratic Turkey aiming for EU membership.
The process of rethinking Islamic identity and its political model was begun by confronting the old notions of the West and Westernization. The trauma of the early encounters in the 19th century between Islam and the West was overcome as Muslims have grown confident in their relationship with the West after the years of modernization and economic development. A century after being labeled the “sick man of Europe,” Turkey is now a country with the biggest army in NATO after the US, the 16th largest economy in the world and the sixth-largest in Europe. This self-image has helped change Turkey’s positioning vis-à-vis the West.
In rethinking the West, the experience of the Turks living in Europe was also crucial for demonstrating that it is possible after all to be in the West, part of the West and still remain Muslim. Moreover, they realized they were better off in Europe in terms of freedom of belief, as the European states interfered less in the way they dressed, organized and practiced their religion than Turkey, especially in the late 1990s.
Thus, Islamic groups, under the pressure of the authoritarian Kemalist institutions at home, started to view the EU as an opportunity to curb the power of those Kemalist/secularist centers. In this context, Islamic groups realized that the EU demands for greater democratization, respect for human rights and a restrained military role in politics overlapped with their practical priorities.
Moreover, following Sept. 11 and the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) ascendance to power in Turkey, the new justification for Turkey’s membership in the EU -- namely the “alliance of civilizations” argument -- led the Islamic groups to embrace the EU accession project. Turkish membership was no longer presented as the accession of a successful “secular” but authoritarian model in the Middle East, but of a “Muslim” democratic country with capabilities for bridging Islam and the West. It should be noted that the latter rationale is embracing and presuming the “Muslim identity” of Turkey while the former is reflective of Turkey’s republican departure from the past/Islam. Islam was no longer an identity abandoned but preserved in the EU context.
Thus the EU membership process served as a catalyst for the Islamic circles to revisit their historical stand about the West and the Westernization. Mainstream Islamic circles in the social realm, in politics and in business turned to be strong adherents of Turkey’s EU membership, a goal they used to oppose as part of their anti-West stance. The departure of the Islamic elite from a conventional anti-Western position to embrace modern political values and the EU membership constitute a unique opportunity to construct a new Islamic “political” identity in the 21st century, disproving the thesis of a clash of civilizations and abandoning a burden of the past that produces animosity.
This is an opportunity not to miss. Western leaders like Obama are on trial. It is time to see the potential of a post-Kemalist democratic Turkey.
16 March 2009
The value of Turkey lies in its ability to reconcile its Islamic identity with democratic politics, free-market economy and pro-Western foreign policy orientation. Thus the “new Turkish identity” has become a more valuable “strategic asset” to prevent a clash of civilizations.
With such attributes the new Turkey is ever more capable of bridging the Islamic world and the West, contributing to the global coexistence of different cultures and civilizations.
What enabled this was not the practice of “authoritarian secularism” in an Islamic country but, on the contrary, an embracing of modern political values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law by Islamic circles, leading to a transformation of Islamic political identity in Turkey over the last decade. Questioning their past identity, political strategy, discourse, and objectives, the Islamic elements have abandoned the notion of an Islamic state -- not only out of political prudence but also incompatibility between Islam and an ideological Islamic state. In the end, they have settled for a democratic Turkey aiming for EU membership.
The process of rethinking Islamic identity and its political model was begun by confronting the old notions of the West and Westernization. The trauma of the early encounters in the 19th century between Islam and the West was overcome as Muslims have grown confident in their relationship with the West after the years of modernization and economic development. A century after being labeled the “sick man of Europe,” Turkey is now a country with the biggest army in NATO after the US, the 16th largest economy in the world and the sixth-largest in Europe. This self-image has helped change Turkey’s positioning vis-à-vis the West.
In rethinking the West, the experience of the Turks living in Europe was also crucial for demonstrating that it is possible after all to be in the West, part of the West and still remain Muslim. Moreover, they realized they were better off in Europe in terms of freedom of belief, as the European states interfered less in the way they dressed, organized and practiced their religion than Turkey, especially in the late 1990s.
Thus, Islamic groups, under the pressure of the authoritarian Kemalist institutions at home, started to view the EU as an opportunity to curb the power of those Kemalist/secularist centers. In this context, Islamic groups realized that the EU demands for greater democratization, respect for human rights and a restrained military role in politics overlapped with their practical priorities.
Moreover, following Sept. 11 and the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) ascendance to power in Turkey, the new justification for Turkey’s membership in the EU -- namely the “alliance of civilizations” argument -- led the Islamic groups to embrace the EU accession project. Turkish membership was no longer presented as the accession of a successful “secular” but authoritarian model in the Middle East, but of a “Muslim” democratic country with capabilities for bridging Islam and the West. It should be noted that the latter rationale is embracing and presuming the “Muslim identity” of Turkey while the former is reflective of Turkey’s republican departure from the past/Islam. Islam was no longer an identity abandoned but preserved in the EU context.
Thus the EU membership process served as a catalyst for the Islamic circles to revisit their historical stand about the West and the Westernization. Mainstream Islamic circles in the social realm, in politics and in business turned to be strong adherents of Turkey’s EU membership, a goal they used to oppose as part of their anti-West stance. The departure of the Islamic elite from a conventional anti-Western position to embrace modern political values and the EU membership constitute a unique opportunity to construct a new Islamic “political” identity in the 21st century, disproving the thesis of a clash of civilizations and abandoning a burden of the past that produces animosity.
This is an opportunity not to miss. Western leaders like Obama are on trial. It is time to see the potential of a post-Kemalist democratic Turkey.
16 March 2009