Secularism and Islamism in Turkey: The making of elites and counter-elites

Middle East Journal

Volumn 51, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 46-56

  Göle, Nilüfer ^a  

^a BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY   (Turkey)

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EID: 0002940904     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Alvin W. Gouldner claims that a "new class," committed to knowledge and the acquisition of technical skills, is growing in the Third World as well as in the first world of late capitalism. Alvin W. Gouldner, The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class (New York: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1979).
2. In the analysis of French social scientist Pierre Bourdieu, there are different forms of capital that give strength, power and profit to their owner. Among these, Bourdieu distinguishes "economic capital" (convertible into money), from "cultural capital" (conferred by educational credentials and institutions), and "social capital" (achieved social connections and group membership), from "symbolic capital" (legitimated capital, source of prestige). Pierre Bourdieu, La Noblesse d'Etat. Grandes Ecoles et Esprit de Corps (The Nobility of the State. The Big Schools of Public Administration and their Esprit de Corps) (Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1989).
3. This process of legitimation did not take place gradually; the military interventions of 1960, 1971 and 1980 interrupted this process. But after each military coup, a return to democracy took place, and the same political parties were re-established under different names but with the same leaders and organizations. In 1970, the Milli Nizam Partisi (National Order Party, NOP) was established by those who left the center-right Adalet Partisi (Justice Party). After being banned by the military coup in 1971, the NOP was re-established in 1972 as the Milli Selamet Partisi (National Salvation Party) which participated in two coalition governments from 1974-75. With the military coup of 1980, political parties were banned once again. This time, the Islamist party, which was legalized a second time in 1983, has continued to exist under the name of Refah Partisi (Welfare Party, RP). In the last municipal elections of 27 March 1994, the RP increased its share of the total votes to 19.09 percent, and in the last general elections of 25 December 1995, received 21.3 percent of the total national votes.
4. On the development of civil societal space during the last twenty years, see Binnaz Zoprak, "Civil Society in Turkey," in Augustus Richard Norton, ed., Civil Society in the Middle East vol. 2, (Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, 1996). pp. 87-118.
5. Those who believe in Kemal Atatürk's ideas.
6. The Young Turks were a group of constitutionalists, exiled in France who founded a committee called Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress) and began publishing the journal Mesveret (Consultation) in 1895. The leading figure of this movement, Ahmad Riza, was a radical secularist and positivist. See Erik J. Zürcker, Turkey: A Modern History (London, New York: I.E. Tauris. 1993), pp. 90-137.
7. The Young Turks were a group of constitutionalists, exiled in France who founded a committee called Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress) and began publishing the journal Mesveret (Consultation) in 1895. The leading figure of this movement, Ahmad Riza, was a radical secularist and positivist. See Erik J. Zürcker, Turkey: A Modern History (London, New York: I.E. Tauris. 1993), pp. 90-137.
8. The Young Turks were a group of constitutionalists, exiled in France who founded a committee called Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress) and began publishing the journal Mesveret (Consultation) in 1895. The leading figure of this movement, Ahmad Riza, was a radical secularist and positivist. See Erik J. Zürcker, Turkey: A Modern History (London, New York: I.E. Tauris. 1993), pp. 90-137.
9. M. Şükrü Hanioglu, The Young Turks in Opposition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 3-32, passim.
10. The Turkish political concept laiklik is closer to the French word "laïcité" than it is to the word "secularism." For a comparison of secularism in France and Turkey, see "Laïcité/Laklik: Introduction," in Jean-Paul Burdy and Jean Marcou, Laïcité(s) en France et en Turquie (Secularism in France and in Turkey) (Paris: Cahiers d'études sur la Méditerranée orientale et le monde turco-iranien [CEMOTI], no. 19, 1995).
11. Alevis are members of a sect which is an offshoot of Shi'ism. Estimates of their number in Turkey range from 15-20 percent of the population.
12. Burdy and Marcou, Laïcilé(s) en France et en Turquie, p. 13.
13. Nilüfer Göle, "Authoritarian Secularism and Islamist Politics: The Case of Turkey," in Augustus Richard Norton, ed., Civil Society in the Middle East, pp. 17-43.
14. Ernest Gellner, Muslim Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 68.
15. It is ironical to note that today English is the language of education in prestigious universities, while Kurdish is still prohibited in public education and in broadcasting.
16. Esra Ozyurek, "From Elifba to Alfabe: From Ottoman to Modem Turk," paper presented at the 28th annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), Phoenix, 1994.
17. The Democrat Party, which came to power in 1950, owed its popularity to removing those practices, and was denounced as counter-revolutionary by the Republican elites.
18. Sarah Graham-Brown, Images of Women: the Portrayal of Women in Photography of the Middle East, 1860-1950 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988).
19. For an elaboration on the use of the concept of habitus in relation to life-styles, see Pierre Bourdieu. La Distinction, Critique sociale du jugement (The Difference: A Social Critique of Judgement) (Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1479), pp. 189-248.
20. For a critical evaluation of the concept of habitus and Bourdieu's work, see Craig Calhoun, "Habitus, Field and Capital: The Question of Historical Specificity," in Craig Calhoun. Edward LiPuma and Moishe Postone, eds., Bourdieu. Critical Perspectives (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993), pp. 4-88.
21. According to Jürgen Habermas, life-world encompasses three structural components: culture, society and personality. Jürgen Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984).
22. Edward A. Shils, Center and Periphery: Essays in Macrosociology (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1975).
23. Yilmaz Esmer and Müge Göçek, "Boundaries of Religious Fundamentalism in Turkey," survey conducted in Istanbul and in Konya in 1994. Paper presented at Bogaziçi University, Ankara, May 1995.
24. Nilüfer Göle, "The Quest for the Islamic Self Within the Context of Modernity." in Reşat Kasaba and Sibel Bozdogan, eds., Rethinking the Project of Modernity in Turkey (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, forthcoming).
25. Alain Touraine, The Voice and the Eye, An Analysis of Social Movements (translated from French) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981).
26. Michael Fischer, "Islam and the Revolt of the Petite Bourgeoisie," Daedalus 111, no. 1 (Winter 1982), pp. 101-25. Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985), pp. 50-82.
27. Michael Fischer, "Islam and the Revolt of the Petite Bourgeoisie," Daedalus 111, no. 1 (Winter 1982), pp. 101-25. Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985), pp. 50-82.
28. Nilüfer Göle, "Engineers and the Emergence of a Technicist Identity," in Metin Heper, Ayse Öncü and Heinz Kramer, eds., Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural Identities (London: I.E. Tauris, 1993); Nilüfer Göle, "Ingénieurs islamistes et étudiantes voilées en Turquie," (Islamist engineers and veiled women students in Turkey) in Gilles Kepel and Yann Richard, eds., Intellectuels et militants de l'Islam contemporain (Intellectuals and Militants of Contemporary Islam) (Paris: Seuil, 1990); Nilüfer Göle, "Entre le 'gauchisme' et l'islamisme': l'émergence de l'idéologie techniciste en Turquie," (Between Leftism and Islamism: the Emergence of a Technicist Ideology in Turkey) in Elisabeth Longuenesse, ed., Bâtisseurs et bureaucrates: Ingénieurs et société au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient (Builders and Bureaucrats: Engineers and Society in the Maghreb and the Middle East) (Lyon: Maison de l'Orient, 1990).
29. Nilüfer Göle, "Engineers and the Emergence of a Technicist Identity," in Metin Heper, Ayse Öncü and Heinz Kramer, eds., Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural Identities (London: I.E. Tauris, 1993); Nilüfer Göle, "Ingénieurs islamistes et étudiantes voilées en Turquie," (Islamist engineers and veiled women students in Turkey) in Gilles Kepel and Yann Richard, eds., Intellectuels et militants de l'Islam contemporain (Intellectuals and Militants of Contemporary Islam) (Paris: Seuil, 1990); Nilüfer Göle, "Entre le 'gauchisme' et l'islamisme': l'émergence de l'idéologie techniciste en Turquie," (Between Leftism and Islamism: the Emergence of a Technicist Ideology in Turkey) in Elisabeth Longuenesse, ed., Bâtisseurs et bureaucrates: Ingénieurs et société au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient (Builders and Bureaucrats: Engineers and Society in the Maghreb and the Middle East) (Lyon: Maison de l'Orient, 1990).
30. Nilüfer Göle, "Engineers and the Emergence of a Technicist Identity," in Metin Heper, Ayse Öncü and Heinz Kramer, eds., Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural Identities (London: I.E. Tauris, 1993); Nilüfer Göle, "Ingénieurs islamistes et étudiantes voilées en Turquie," (Islamist engineers and veiled women students in Turkey) in Gilles Kepel and Yann Richard, eds., Intellectuels et militants de l'Islam contemporain (Intellectuals and Militants of Contemporary Islam) (Paris: Seuil, 1990); Nilüfer Göle, "Entre le 'gauchisme' et l'islamisme': l'émergence de l'idéologie techniciste en Turquie," (Between Leftism and Islamism: the Emergence of a Technicist Ideology in Turkey) in Elisabeth Longuenesse, ed., Bâtisseurs et bureaucrates: Ingénieurs et société au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient (Builders and Bureaucrats: Engineers and Society in the Maghreb and the Middle East) (Lyon: Maison de l'Orient, 1990).
31. During the period from 1923-1950 (the single-party rule period), 50 percent of the deputies were civil servants and military officers and only 1 percent were engineers. During the period from 1960-80, the percentage of civil servants among the deputies fell to 18 percent, whereas that of engineers increased to 12 percent. See Cumhuriyet Donemi Turkiye Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopedia on the Republican Period in Turkey), fascicle 10 (1983), pp. 2671-81. After the 1987 general elections, 45 percent of the parliamentarians were engineers or architects. See Cumhuriyet (Istanbul), 2 December 1987.
32. During the period from 1923-1950 (the single-party rule period), 50 percent of the deputies were civil servants and military officers and only 1 percent were engineers. During the period from 1960-80, the percentage of civil servants among the deputies fell to 18 percent, whereas that of engineers increased to 12 percent. See Cumhuriyet Donemi Turkiye Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopedia on the Republican Period in Turkey), fascicle 10 (1983), pp. 2671-81. After the 1987 general elections, 45 percent of the parliamentarians were engineers or architects. See Cumhuriyet (Istanbul), 2 December 1987.
33. The role of engineers in politics is not confined to Turkey. Egypt, too, has a long tradition of professional training of engineers. Today in Egypt, the syndicate of engineers plays a very significant political role. See Clement Henry Moore, Images of Development, Egyptian Engineers in Search of Industry (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1980).
34. In Iran, the influence of Islamist engineers with Ph.D.s from US universities contributes significantly to the stability of the Islamic government in Tehran. See Yann Richard, L'Islam chi'ite (Shi'ite Islam) (Paris: Fayard, 1991), pp. 247-48.
35. Michael E. Meeker, "The Muslim Intellectual and His Audience: A New Configuration of Writer and Reader among Believers in the Republic of Turkey," in Cerif Mardin, ed., Cultural Transitions in the Middle East (Leiden, New York, Könl: E.J. Brill, 1994), pp. 153-88.
36. On the question of women as a touchstone of modernization and Islamization, see Nilüfer Göle, Modern Mahrem: Medeniyet ve Ortünme (Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veil) (Istanbul: Metis, 1991). Nilüfer Göle, The Forbidden Modern, Islamist Veiling and Civilization in Turkey (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996).
37. On the question of women as a touchstone of modernization and Islamization, see Nilüfer Göle, Modern Mahrem: Medeniyet ve Ortünme (Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veil) (Istanbul: Metis, 1991). Nilüfer Göle, The Forbidden Modern, Islamist Veiling and Civilization in Turkey (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996).