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Turkish–Islamic synthesis

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Turkish–Islamic synthesis (Turkish: Türk-İslam sentezi) is a type of Turkish nationalism which has an Islamist leaning instead of secular.

History

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Historian Gökhan Çetinsaya explained that there are three opinions on the topic of Turkish nationalism and Islam. First are the nationalists who reject Islam, second are Islamists who reject nationalism, and third are the ones who mix them both together. While there was elements of the fusion of Turkish nationalism with Islam during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish Islamonationalism was created and encouraged as part of Operation Gladio during the Cold War by American-backed right-wing intellectuals such as Alparslan Türkeş who were concerned about the increasing Soviet-backed leftist influence in the country. They wanted to make a religion-inspired nationalism.[1] Türkeş did not support Pan-Islamism.[2] A famous quote of his was "Turkishness is our body, Islam is our soul."[3] According to the synthesis, you have to be a Muslim to be a Turk, and that Islam is the most suitable religion for Turks. The ideology staunchly prioritises Hanafism-Maturidism and views it as the national religion of all Turks, due to the long history of Turkic people following the Hanafi madhhab and the Maturidi school, they do not consider Hanafism-Maturidism as foreign due to their belief that al-Maturidi was a Hanafi Turk who himself had a sense of national pride.[4][5][6][7][8] In the late 1970s, the Turkish political scene was full of ideological conflicts between far-right ultranationalists (Idealists) and far-left groups, along with little-to-no governmental effort to stop it. Under the Motherland Party rule, Turkish Islamonationalism became the de facto official ideology of Turkey (and until today it is accused of being so under AKP rule, although the AKP strongly denies it). In 1982, religion was strengthened in schools and education as a way to strengthen Turkish Islamonationalism, which intended to weaken mainstream Islamism and secular nationalism.[9][10] The Turkish–Islamic synthesis was fully developed by Aydınlar Ocağı (Turkish: Intellectuals' Hearth) headed by Süleyman Yalçın in the 1980s.[11]

Views on non-Turks

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See also: Xenophobia and discrimination in Turkey

Arabs

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Alparslan Türkeş, founder of the MHP and Grey Wolves and one of the top ideologues of the Turkish–Islamic synthesis, was an advocate of the Turkish adhan and advocated for the Quran, Adhan, and even Salahs to be solely in the Turkish language in Turkey. He co-led the 1960 Turkish coup d'état and in an interview after the coup, Türkeş described the usage of Arabic for religion as a "betrayal", and said "In a Turkish mosque, the Quran should be read in Turkish, not Arabic."[12][13][14] After the refugee crisis, anti-Arabism increased, mostly among Grey Wolves. In Gaziantep, approximately 2 dozen Syrian Arabs had to leave the city after angry Turkish crowds belonging to the Grey Wolves ransacked their homes.[15] Another time a group of about 1,000 Grey Wolves, which organized on social media, blocked various roads in Kahramanmaraş and refused to leave even after police warnings. The protestors also removed Arabic signs from many Syrian-owned stores, and many store owners closed their shops in fear. They also attacked a Syrian in a car and broke his windows, however they ran away after the Turkish police fired a warning gunshot into the air.[16] Many Turkish Islamonationalist organizations volunteer to fight in Syria in favor of Syrian Turkmen to strengthen Turkmen interests and weaken Arab rule.[17] The Alperen Hearths sent 250 fighters in 2015 to "fight against Russia, Iran, and Assad. And to help Turkmen",[18] although they were later accused of having just came into Syria to take photos with fighters, as many of the Alperen Hearths were seen in Istanbul just days after they went to fight.[19]

Kurds

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Although the ones who follow Türkeş are frequently accused of being anti-Kurdish,[20] the ones who follow Yazıcıoğlu have no problem with Kurds as long as the Kurds agree to being subordinate to Turks.[21][22][10] On February 23, 1979, while the 20-year-old Kurdish Raider activist, Metin Yüksel, was leaving Istanbul's Fatih Mosque, he was shot dead by Grey Wolves loyal to the MHP.[23][24][25][26]

Despite the MHP's long history of opposing any form of rights given to Kurds,[27] Devlet Bahçeli stated "It is, in a word, dishonorable to portray the MHP as anti-Kurdish, to provoke my brothers of Kurdish origin against the MHP, and to be enthusiastic about unrest and opportunism. At the same time, it is also a grave betrayal to the homeland, the flag, the nation and the thousand-year experience and integration. Those who engage in stealthy and conscious political Kurdism are the disgraceful ones who bring water to the PKK's mill. My brothers of Kurdish origin are not against MHP. Those who are against the MHP are PKK members, PYD/YPG lovers. Kurds cannot be terrorists, terrorists cannot be Kurds, they cannot even be called Kurds."[28] Devlet Bahçeli and the controversial Olcay Kılavuz also made bold accusations saying that the HDP, IYI, and CHP are the ones who are truly anti-Kurdish.[29][30] Regardless of the MHP's denial of being racist towards Kurds, the MHP and its supporters have continued to portray acts of racism against even the Kurds who do not have an affiliation with the PKK or HDP.[31][32]

In 2015, in Istanbul, after the failure of the PKK peace process, a wave of anti-Kurdish attacks came, in which stones were thrown at buses coming from or going to Kurdish-majority cities, and assaults on Kurdish seasonworkers increased. Many buses hung up the Turkish flag to avoid getting their windows broken.[33] The BBP's Alperen Hearths responded by going onto the buses and greeting passengers and giving out roses and Turkish delights, in which Kürşat Mican, the leader of the Alperen Hearths in Istanbul, stated "Due to the increasing news of martyrs, our people could not control their feelings and went to the streets to react to terrorism. We started to hear the saying 'Kurds are the eternal enemies of the Turks' on the streets. We purposely chose Friday. Friday is the holiday of Muslims. The roses we have also represent our prophet. We will serve roses and Turkish delight to our brothers who go to the Eastern provinces from here. We told them that all Muslims are brothers. Evil groups have been wanting to disrupt our brotherhood, unity and solidarity for years. We, as Alperens, will not allow this at all costs. By Allah's permission, we will live together in this land for a lifetime in a brotherly manner. I strongly condemn terrorism, with hatred."[34] Mican also accused the ones who engaged in anti-Kurdish violence of being "specially selected agents".[33] In an Iftar speech, Mustafa Destici, leader of the BBP, who once ripped a picture of a Kurdistan map, said that "The Kurds are our brothers. Unfortunately, some political structures and groups within both of us either can't see the bigger picture, or it doesn't work for them to see it. They are chasing small calculations for the sake of political interest. The basis for Turkey's ability to continue on its way as a whole passes through unity."[35] In a 2021 speech, Destici said that the "HDP does not represent the Kurds, it represents the PKK and YPG".[36] In 2023, Destici accused Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of "calling all Kurds PKK members, HDP members, PYD members, YPG members", and Destici later declared that Kurds and Turks have been "brothers for a thousand years".[37]

Greeks

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Turkish Islamonationalists are known to hate Greeks due to their conflicts in history as well as Greeks being Christian.[38] The Grey Wolves were once accused of storming an Istanbul pogrom memorial exhibition and throwing eggs and taking down pictures, although the Grey Wolves denied any involvement.[39][40] In 2005 many Turkish Islamonationalists organized a rally and marched to the gate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and chanted "Patriarch Leave" and "Patriarchate to Greece".[41] MHP leader also once held a map showing Turkey claiming all of the islands controlled by Greece.[42]

Armenians

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Similar to Greeks, Turkish Islamonationalists are also known to hate Armenians due to their conflicting history and due to Armenians practicing Christianity.[citation needed] Sevag Balıkçı, an Armenian in the Turkish Army, was murdered by Kıvanç Ağaoglu, who was a supporter of Abdullah Çatlı, the former Grey Wolves leader.[43] On Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in 2012, various nationalist and Turkish Islamonationalist groups protested against the remembrance of the Armenian genocide in Taksim Square.[44] When Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan visited the city of Ani in Kars Province, the local Grey Wolves leader suggested that his anyone who supports him should "go on an Armenian hunt."[45][46]

Iranians

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Jews

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Criticism

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Turkish Islamonationalism is often criticized by Islamists who view nationalism as a sin, by secular Turkish nationalists who view religion as unimportant, and by various minority rights organizations and activists in Turkey.[47]

Islamic scholar İhsan Şenocak once said "Neither Turkish-Islamic nationalism, nor Kurdish-Islamic nationalism. Only Islam."[48] The Raiders Organization claimed that this ideology is a "fascistic product of imperialism", and that nationalism is a Western ideology, which has no place in Islamic nations.[49]

A member of the Islamic Community of Kurdistan, in a statement once said that "Turkish racism is a poisonous dagger stuck in the heart of the Islamic world" and encouraged Kurdish Muslims to physically attack Turkish–Islamic synthesists wherever they find them by saying "God wants to punish these racist fitna-makers with your hands". He also said that they are the same as Kemalists and Turanists when it comes to Anti-Kurdism.[50]

Nihal Atsız viewed it as an artificial ideology which forcefully fuses two contradictory ideologies together, and he also saw Islamism as being incompatible with Turkism.[51]

The ideology was also criticised by Pan-Turkists who said "the person who does not defend secularism cannot be a Turanist. The Gagauz are Christian, Karaites and Khazar are Jewish, Altais are Tengrist, Yakuts are shamanist, Azerbaijanis are Shia, Anatolian Turkmens are Alevi. The Turkish-Islamic Synthesis and its Sunnism, was not able to reach large utopias, but a small part of Anatolia. Instead of caring for the Turkmen Alevi, it considers it ideal to beat the son of a Turkmen in the name of idealism-sunnism because he is a leftist. In addition, secularism prevents the damage of sectarianism and gives the nation rationality. If he is an idealist, he cannot remain against secularism. The idealist who does not defend secularism does not have ideals nor kızılelma." Kızılelma means "red apple" and symbolizes the goal of conquest in Turkish tradition.[52]

Famous people

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Groups

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Sunni Muslim

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Alevi Muslim

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See also

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References

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