AK Party’s Islamism

Prof. Mumtazer Turkone
Prof. Mumtazer Turkone


Date posted: January 21, 2014

MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE

It is wrong to link the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to al-Qaeda. Rather, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) of Egypt and Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan served as a role model for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the National View (Milli Görüş) movement from which it had sprung. Yet the AK Party has always distanced itself from radical Islamist movements that resort to violence.

The Islamist tradition from which the AK Party has come into being suggests that the state should be seized using legitimate methods. In this tradition, the existing legal framework is believed to set the limits for what can be done, and democratic methods that seek to secure popular backing are employed. Despite this, this tradition has led to the emergence of a new situation that does not play nicely with democratic/legal limits. Since the parliamentary elections of 2011, the AK Party has started to try a novel approach with which it had never experimented before. 2011 is the year when the AK Party started to seize the state in an unrivaled manner with electoral support of 50 percent. Today, the emerging graft and bribery investigations signify the end of the bankruptcy of this new method.

There are ideological motivations behind why the AK Party has indulged in corruption in such an uncontrolled manner. For Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it is legitimate to receive commissions from the lucre distributed by the state and to finance religious education and religious services using these commissions. Although it is unlawful to do this, obtaining approval from some religious scholars has legitimized it. Thus, many businessmen who intend to do business with the state have been forced to pay large donations in cash or in kind to foundations or charities run by relatives of the prime minister. Apparently, these funds have been used mainly to finance the construction or maintenance of imam-hatip schools to which the ruling party attaches great importance. Let me sum up the process with a concrete example. The construction of the campus and mosque of the Faculty of Theology at Marmara University in Üsküdar, İstanbul, had been undertaken by the company which was awarded with the contracts for two big public tenders, i.e., the projects for building the third bridge over the Bosporus and the third airport in İstanbul. The executives of this company are suspects in the corruption probe launched by the prosecutor’s office, but hindered by the government. They are accused of acquiring the Sabah newspaper and the ATV TV channel in an irregular manner.

This unlawful mechanism that is causing troubles to the prime minister is part not only of a corruption universe, but also of the AK Party’s ideological vision. The AK Party seeks to raise a religious generation using the state’s resources. It also seeks to replace existing religious communities with an official religious community. It aims to finance this community with funds collected from the distribution of the lucre by the state. The imam-hatip high schools and the state’s other religious institutions have emerged as the main centers for implementing this vision.

This is the very reason why the prime minister’s son is implicated in the inhibited graft probe. The Foundation of Youth and Education in Turkey (TÜRGEV), an Erdoğan family foundation led by Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan established to sponsor the construction of imam-hatip high schools, is under the very spotlight of the graft probe. It is claimed that the donations to this foundation were actually the commissions forcibly collected from businessmen who are awarded public tenders and from the lucre distributed form urban development projects.

Apparently, Erdoğan has sought not only to be unrivaled within Turkey, but also to create a totalitarian country according to his religious mentality using the resources available to him. The corruption investigations remove the veil over the details of this totalitarian project. Yet there is another important detail. This project also relies on an oligarchic group of businessmen who are close to the prime minister. The donations to religious education and services are used to legitimize the interests of these capitalists. And the circle is closed with the political support lent by these emerging capitalists as well as by the groups who are mystified with the religious education so provided to the AK Party.

The current crisis means the bankruptcy of the AK Party’s Islamism.

Source: Todays Zaman , January 20, 2014


Related News

Former minister inquires about secret plot against Gülen movement

Former minister with ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İdris Naim Şahin has submitted a lengthy inquiry to the Turkish Parliament, asking if there is a secret plot against members of the Gülen movement and if the government has mobilized all its resources to gather evidence through any means.

Journalists and Writers Foundation’s statement [on arrest warrant issued for Mr. Gulen]

It is a well-known fact that then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had sent Bülent Arınç to Mr. Fethullah Gülen to give him the message, “We are ready to do anything you want us to do,” and that he had called on Mr. Gülen to return to the country to “put an end to homesickness” in the witness of tens of thousands of spectators in a stadium.

The Remarkable Scale of Turkey’s “Global Purge”

The global purge further erodes hopes that the end of the Cold War and expansion of the liberal order would result in democratic consolidation. The global purge is a threat not just to the Turkish diaspora but to the rule of law everywhere.

Government cuts off funds for disabled child over father’s Gülen links

The Turkish government has cut off funds granted to Rafia Nur, a 12-year-old child whose father has been arrested over alleged links to the Gülen movement. The lower half of Rafia’s body is paralyzed, impairing her ability to walk or stand.

Extraditing Gülen: A smart move for the PM?

In the latest salvo in his battle for his political life, the Turkish prime minister has started to threaten to bring U.S.-based scholar Fetullah Gülen back to Turkey to face a possible criminal case for his alleged role in what the premier called a “civilian coup plot” attempt. In legal terms, there has been no legal investigation or arrest warrant for Gülen.

A Genocide in the Making – Genocidal action stage by stage by the Turkish government against the Hizmet movement

Dr Ismail Sezgin, Director of Centre for Hizmet Studies is questioning if a genocide is in the making in Turkey, exploring the development of a genocidal action stage by stage by the Turkish government against the Hizmet movement.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

The Peace Islands Institute’s 5th Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Award

‘Hizmet conspiracy’ theories rejected at iftar hosted by Alevis

Turkish schools issue [in Pakistan] still to be resolved

Behind the secret documents – Turkish government profiled a large number of individuals

Turkish Deputy PM says he will not visit Gülen amid ‘prep school tension’

Symposium concludes: Hizmet (Gulen) Movement Contributes to World Peace

Ramadan aid cheers up Sudanese orphans

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News