Chapter 4: Political Ideologies in Turkish Political Life

Introduction

Ideologies are modern era’s systems of thought that help us understand the social reality we live in. In a way, they are the explanations and solutions provided by intellectuals to the society regarding the formation of a social reality and how it should be in the future. Since ideologies function as social and political maps, they provide a political attitude, understanding and analysis to their followers. Therefore, ideologies are the basis of social movements, political parties or groups.

Historical Background

The ideologies of the Western World such as liberalism and nationalism were shaped by certain social, economic and political events such as the industrial revolution or capitalism. However, as there are no such events in the Ottoman history, the shaping of political ideologies in the Ottoman and the republican era has taken place differently.

Ottoman Heritage

As the western world started colonization and dominated the world materially, culturally and intellectually in the 19th century, to save the unity of the state, ideologies such as Panislamism, Ottomanism or Turkism were advocated. These ideologies do not have a sociological basis that comes from the social background; political projects designed by statesmen and intellectuals.

The nationalism movement which bought along ideas such as citizenship rights, national identity and the right to selfdetermination accelerated the independence demands and activities of the minorities in the Ottoman Empire by changing the view of the traditional Monarch-Subject (Teba).

The Ottoman Empire, which embraces different languages, religions and cultures, tried to use the ‘Ottoman’ identity as a general national name to deal with the new nationalist waves. Ottomanism (İttihad-ı Osmani), was born to protect the integrity of the remaining land and to prevent its disintegration by giving common rights to the groups with different races, languages and religions within the Ottoman Empire and to prevent the demands and actions of independence. This idea was formally defended until the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the War of Independence.

Islamism or ‘ Panislamism ’, introduced an ideology based on religious identity to preserve the unity of the Ottoman

In addition to these thoughts presented as remedies for saving the state, ‘ Turkism ’ and ‘ Turanism ’ also appeared.

Ideological Divisions in Turkey

Western ideologies that have modernized the West in the sociological sense while they didn2t work well in Turkey as the traditional elements of the social structure were kept.

Kemalism aiming to change Turkey from an undeveloped society to a modern one struck its stamp at founding period of the Republic. The modernization experiments in which the social and political oppositions were suppressed were applied in this period. Even in the post-1960 period, the ideological differentiation in the left-right axis was largely shaped in the context of Kemalism and the state.

Kemalism As An Offıcial Ideology In Republican Period

The main transformation from the Ottoman to the Republic is that a multi-lingual, multi-religious and multiethnic imperial system shifted to a nation-state based on Turkish identity. The principles of Kemalism (Nationalism, Populism, Laicism, Statism, Revolutionism, Republicanism) officially became the basic qualities of the state with the real integration between the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi-CHP) and the state. The aim of Kemalism is to build a modern society and the state.

Unlike Turanism or Panislamism, Kemalist nationalism is not expansionist and irredentist. Within the national borders it has got homogeneous and anti-pluralist nature. Nationalism in the modernization project of Kemalism serves the purpose of forming a homogeneous sociocultural structure with a secular basis.

According to Kemalism, there are no classes in Turkey; there are professional groups. For this reason, the basic goal of the Kemalist populism principle and the discourse of classlessness is to prevent class conflict.

The principle of Kemalist laicism aims at the gradual reduction of the influence of religion on political, social and individual life. Religious control of state affairs is abolished but state control over religion continues. But regulations and practices based on the principle of Kemalist laicism paradoxically set the stage for the development of an Islamist opposition against the regime.

Due to Turkey’s concrete conditions, the state-controlled economy is mandatory in order to achieve a rapid development and to reach the level of contemporary civilization. In other words, statism has been used as a means of keeping the political sphere in the hands of a single party (CHP) and providing full control within the country.

Kemalism is an authoritarian modernization project that can be characterized as a nationalist, corporatist, antiimperialist, reformist, positivist, and so on, which emphasizes radical laicism and a strong centralism. In this context Kemalism has been associated with both right and left political thought.

Nationalism

The birth and spread of nationalism have coincided with the nation-state; both of them have fostered each other. In the historical process, different kinds of nationalism have emerged: Liberal nationalism tries to synthesize nationalism with liberal values such as democracy and the rule of law. Conservative nationalism has an understanding compatible with the status quo against revolutionary approaches. Expansionist nationalism represents the aggressive direction of this ideology. Left nationalism is more associated with an anti-imperialist approach.

Turkist-Turanist Nationalism

In the 1970s, the representative of nationalist ideology in the political sphere became Nationalist Action Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi-MHP) under the leadership of Alparslan Türkeş. At first, this party adopted a TurkistTuranist ideology in the style of Nihal Atsız. Over time, MHP tried to synthesize Turkist ideology with Islamic motives in order to meet people’s conservative values. As a result of this change, which is a kind of ‘TurkishIslamic synthesis’, the followers of Atsız left the party. This understanding of nationalism, which advocates statism, has supported the idea of anticommunism. In the postSeptember 12 period, nationalism of MHP appears to be more flexible, harmonious, supporter of privatization, consensual with governmental institutions.

Left-Socialist Nationalism

Whether the left-wing socialists can be nationalist or not is controversial. The debate emerges in the context of the question of how will the system be transformed into socialism in the countries where capitalism does not develop, class conflicts do not arise and the struggle against colonial governments continues. In this case, there is a phase that is called ‘national democratic revolution’. At this stage, the colonial situation will end and capitalism will develop. The socialist interpretation of this kind of nationalism has also been influential among the Turkish left-socialists.

Liberal-Conservative Nationalism

The liberal-conservative forms of nationalism seem more moderate than others. They try to add modernity and democracy to Turkish and Islamic elements of nationalist ideology.

Conservatism

Conservatism, critical about the assumption of ‘rational autonomous subject’ and rationality of the Enlightenment emphasizes some social and cultural factors (tradition, prejudice, religion, history, property, etc.) The most important political feature of conservatism is ‘antirevolution’. According to the conservatives, irreversible, forcebased radical changes create violence at the social and political level. There are various common forms of usage about conservatism in Turkey: Defending the Ottoman past against the Republican regime; ‘conservative’ against change; ‘traditionalist’ against the progressive movements; ‘reactionary’ supporter and protector of the status quo; ‘religious’ person defender of religious structure or life, etc. Turkish conservatism does not constitute a political movement to defend religious institutions against the secular institutions or the old order against the Republic. Turkish conservatism is not a political thought that involves total criticism of the established order, since there is no appropriate class division. In contrast to a total westernization / modernization, the necessary change is seen as a kind of ‘synthesis’. This synthesis must be established between the future and the past, the East and the West, the matter and the meaning, the technique and the culture, the science and the spirituality

Socialism and The Left

Socialism is newer in these lands than currents, such as Islamism and Westernism. The first emergence of modern left ideas occurred between 1908 and 1925. In the 1920s, three organizational roots of socialism can be mentioned: Turkish Communist Party; the Turkish Socialist Faction, the Turkish Workers’ and Farmers’ Socialist Faction. In the 1960s, one of the most important actors is TİP under the leadership of Mehmet Ali Aybar. Turkish Labor Party’s socialist revolution strategy was created against the MDD movement. Those who were from the tradition of TİP formed separate parties such as Turkish Labor Party, Turkish Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Revolution Party etc. in the 1970s. In addition, several examples from many other fractions include: Turkish Workers Party by Mihri Belli; Fatherland Party founded by supporters of Hikmet Kıvılcımlı; the circle of the Enlightenment (Aydınlık) defender of Chinese socialism under the leadership of Doğu Perinçek. CHP, HP, SODEP, SHP, DSP which are not directly directly related to socialism, have tried to create a kind of social democratic movement in Turkey. However, despite all efforts, western kind of social democracy did not come into existence in Turkey

Islamism

The first generation Islamists played a role between 1850- 1924 years. The main motivation of these thinkers is to save the state. Accordingly, the Ottoman state cannot be rescued by imitating the West as it is. It is necessary to return to the original sources of Islam to make an ijtihad in order to solve modern problems. Islamic religion does not prevent progress. What is important is that Muslims should act within unity, solidarity and brotherhood. In order to achieve this goal, jihad soul must also be animated besides ijtihad. With the beginning of multiparty system after the Second World War, the second generation Islamists criticizes the secular foundations and teachings of the present state. They advocate the reorganization of the state in harmony with the TurkishIslamic tradition. In this period, Islamists have nationalist reflexes that are developing in the axis of Turkism rather than Pan Islamism. They have an aim of Islamization of the modern nation-state. The third generation Islamists is the product of historical context created by the period of after 1980 and the liberalization policy of Turgut Özal. In this period, the Islamists were one of the main actors in the public debate about civil society, pluralism, democracy, human rights and so on.

Liberalism

Liberalism accepts the individual as the basic unit of social analysis and opposes to all forms of oppression against the individual, demanding economic, social, religious and political freedom. While the left and socialism emphasize equality, liberalism emphasizes freedom. Liberalism has not seen a very wide acceptance in Turkey as the concepts such as ‘autonomous individual’, ‘competitive market’, ‘limited state’ disturb both rightists and leftists in Turkish political thought. Among the liberal intellectuals in the period from the Ottoman to the Republic, the names Halide Edip Adıvar and Ahmet Ağaoğlu appear. the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi-ANAP), established in 1983, is more influenced by liberal themes.

Feminism

feminism aims at solving the social and political structures and thoughts that are constantly under male domination. The basic aim of feminism is the realization of the improvement of the place of women in society and the realization of a real equality in the society by criticizing the thoughts and structures which are based on the male domination.

Women’s movement in Turkey dates back to the Ottoman Empire. The reforms of women in the second half of the 19th century gave their results during the Second Constitutional period, when women established various associations and issued a lot of publications.

In the Republican period, to form a modern and secular Turkish woman, legal regulations on women’s status and rights have been made. Yet, the state’s purposes were pragmatic rather than feminist, so the feminist movements were supressed and later prohibited in the 1930s. Women had to fight for their right for elcetions under the leadership of Nezihe Muhittin.

The spread of feminism in Turkey has taken place after the 1990s. In this period many women’s associations were established and the topic of women began to appear in academy. In many universities women’s research centers, institutes, master sciences and postgraduate programs have been opened.