Muhalefet ve iktidar: Türkiye'de devletin İslamcı eleştirisinin 1990'lardan bu yana dönüşümü

This thesis explores the transformation of the Islamic political thought in Turkey since the 1990s from a dissenting ideology which criticizes the existing state establishment to a state-centric worldview integrated into the existing political system. The study focusses on an Islamic political magazine of the 1990s, Yeni Zemin, and the later writings of its major authors who are key members of the Islamic intelligentsia in Turkey. The thesis argues that although the moderation of Islamist critique of the state establishment can be traced back to the aftermath of February 28 military intervention, the longevity of the AKP rule and the party's ability to integrate both different Islamic social groups and Muslim intellectuals into the existing socio-political system is more decisive in the ideological moderation process. The content-based analysis of the writings of Muslim intellectuals covers three different periods. First, the Islamic political thought of the mid-1990s is explored through a close reading of Yeni Zemin whose main editorial line revolves around offering a radical opposition to the existing political system by invoking liberal democratic concepts. Second, a scrutiny of the writings of major Yeni Zemin authors in the aftermath of February 28 (1998-2004) singles out this event and its aftermath as the starting point of the moderation of the Islamist critique of the state. Finally, the same intellectuals are examined in the period between 2008 and 2014 in which the AKP consolidated its political power as Turkey's ruling party. The analysis shows that the duration of the AKP rule brings forth the crystallization of ideological moderation among intellectuals close to the party.