However, in
recent history Turkish politics has been subject to vast changes in its
make-up. Since the 1980 military intervention, and perhaps even earlier, the
subject of religious revivalism has been in the forefront of the Kemalist
republic. While many countries in the Middle East
have witnessed religious upheaval in recent past.A
new middle class became visible after the 1980’s, accepting the ethical
standards and cultural values of the traditional order but also adopted the
rational business rules and the profit motive of the capitalist market system. The new Turkish Islamic middle middle, and
upper middle classes are very good examples of capitalistic spirit both as
believers and entrepreneurs.
A relatively new friction between the
laicists and Islamists emerged in the 1990’s when the critical approach of a
group of Islamist writers gained an unprecedented popularity. Ruşen Çakır marks
the book titled Üç Mesele: Teknik, Medeniyet. Yabancılaşma (Three Issues:
Technique, Civilization, Alienation) by Ismet Ozel that was published first
in 1978, as an initiator of such a line of criticism. This new literature was not only popular in Islamic wing, but also
ignited the widespread debate of the 80’s and 90’s among the Turkish
intelligentsia about the conduct to be taken in issues of modernity.In February 1997, the mayor of Sincan, a
town on the outskirts of Ankara, organized ‘Jerusalem Day’, to call liberation
of the city from Israel. The mayor was from the ‘pro-Islamic’ Welfare Party, a
partner of the coalition government. The Iranian ambassador was invited and,
making anti-secular statements, he called for the establishment of Islamic law
in Turkey, while the crowd demonstrated in support of Hamas and Hezbollah, two
Islamist groups waging armed struggle against Israel.The parliament that
emerged from the general elections on November 3, 2002, in Turkey has created
an unexpected possibility of exit from the authoritarian regime established
after the military coup of September 12, 1980, and empowered by the regulations
after February 28, 1997.It is evident that the Kemalist model eroded. The Kemalist
elite of Turkey enjoyed very many ‘faces’ of power as decision-making, as
agenda setting, as thought control, almost all through the republican times.
However, politics is inextricably linked to the phenomena of conflict and
cooperation. Outcome of the 2007 general elections in Turkey reveal
that almost 50% of the population that has voted, used their preference for
AKP. This is an expression of the social change that Turkey has been
experiencing especially within the last decade.A quite recent survey in Turkey
reveals that a large group of laicists and Islamists are coming closer to each
other in their views about democracy, freedoms, and rights. Several
negotiations have been taken place regarding the issue of modernization process
of Turkey.A process of negotiation may be exemplified by a work run in an
Islamic context. A current project carried under the working title, ‘The Future
of Shari'a’ by Prof. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Charles Howard Candler Professor
of Law at Emory Law School, focuses on the struggle of Islamic societies to
define themselves and positively relate to the local and global conditions
under which they live.