From religious-traditional state structure to modern-secular state formas: Reactions of Contemporary Islamic Political Movements in Turkey, Egypt and Iran

The aim of the thesis is to examine the reactions of the movements called Contemporary Islamic Political Movements (CIPMs) in Turkey, Egypt and Iran, which passed from the religious-traditional state structure to the modern secular state forms in the same years. The scope of the thesis is the process from the modern-secular state-building processes in all three countries to one year when CIPMs came to power in each country, using comparative historical methodology. The thesis examines to show why the aforementioned reactions emerged in the form of a CIPM that integrated with the political system in Turkey, why it had to stay out of the system and go underground in Egypt, and why the Islamic Revolution resulted in Iran and took over the political system. Due to the reasons such as the historically de-organized ulema structure in Turkey, the secularization of the legal regulations regarding the daily life of the society, the transforming effect of the elections, the low level of social control of the CIPM and its political pragmatism, the CIPM has been integrated into the political system in Turkey. There was a semi-integrated situation in Egypt to the political system because of the historically semi-organized ulema structure in Egypt, the limited effects of the legal regulations on the daily life of the society in a secular sense, the limited changer effect of the elections, the limited level of social control of the CIPM, and its political pragmatism. However, conflict was inevitable. This conflict has brought about the exclusion of the CIPM from the political system. The conflict has also been inevitable in Iran due to reasons such as the historically organized ulema structure in Iran, the fact that the legal regulations regarding the daily life of the society are under the control of the ulema, the elections do not have a transforming effect, and the CIPM does not apply to political pragmatism. This conflict resulted in the Islamic Revolution and the CIPM dominated the political system.