Abstract
There is little doubt that conservatism in Turkey is on the rise. Among many other facets of Turkish society that have been under rapid mutation, the nature and dynamics of rising conservatism attract the most attention domestically as well as internationally. Instead of focusing on this proper conceptual framework, much of the debate within and outside of the country focuses on just one peculiar facet of Turkish conservatism: political Islam. Clearly, Islamism is not only the ideological source of newly rising political elite within the ranks of the AKP, but it is also a source of controversy and conflict in Turkish society. However, as our preceding analyses suggest, there are many other facets to conservatism in the Turkish context and developments and each and every one of these facets has been underway for decades and are not a recent social inflammation that could potentially endanger the peaceful democratic progression of Turkish society.
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Notes
Empirical analyses of conservatism in Turkey are almost non-existent. More conceptual and largely descriptive analyses of the conservative movement within Turkey can be found in its most up-to-date form in Turkish in Ahmet Çiğdem (ed.) Muhafazakarlik (Conservatism) (Istanbul: Iletisim, 2003).
Such a depiction has a long history in Turkish social thinking starting with Şerif Mardin’s “Center Periphery Relations: A Key to Turkish Politics?” Daedalus, 2(1) (1973): 169–190
It was Harvard anthropologist Nur Yalman, in his “Some Observations on Secularism in Islam: The Cultural Revolution in Turkey,” Daedalus 102 (1973): 139–167
See Ali Çarkoğlu and Kemal Kirisçi, “The View from Turkey: Perceptions of Greeks and Greek-Turkish Rapprochement by the Turkish Public,” Special Issue on Greek-Turkish Relations, Turkish Studies, 5, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 117–154
The military had a long history, during the Ottoman and Republican era, of intervening in civilian governments, either directly as in 1960 and 1980, or indirectly as in 1971 and 1997, via decrees and pressure group tactics. See William Hale, Turkish Politics and the Military (London: Routledge, 1994)
See Ali Çarkoğlu, “Religiosity, Support for Seriat and Evaluations of Secularist Public Policies in Turkey,” Middle Eastern Studies 40, no. 2 (2004): 111–136
Ali Çarkoğlu “Ideology or Economic Pragmatism: Determinants of Party Choice in Turkey for the July 2007 Elections,” Studies in Public Policy Number 439 (Scotland: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Aberdeen, 2008)
See Richard Rose, “Turkish Voters and Losers’ Consent,” Studies in Public Policy, No: 440 (Aberdeen, Scotland: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Aberdeen, 2008a)
Richard Rose, “Applying EU Standards to Turkish Governance: A Bottom-up Approach,” Studies in Public Policy, No: 436, (Aberdeen, Scotland: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Aberdeen, 2008b).
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© 2009 Ali Çarkoğlu and Ersin Kalaycıoğlu
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Çarkoğlu, A., Kalaycioğlu, E. (2009). Conclusion. In: The Rising Tide of Conservatism in Turkey. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230621534_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230621534_9
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