Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

Islamic Political Identity in Turkey, by M. Hakan Yavuz (2003), is a timely explication of the political and ideological shift taking place in Turkey, a largely Muslim country which has experienced an Islamic resurgence after nearly a century of secularization stemming from the early-twentieth-century reforms of founder Kemal Ataturk. Yavuz (2003) is concerned with a number of key questions that, if answered, may identify the events and ideas likely to shape TurkeyÆs future as a participant in the emergent global sociopolitical order. This brief report will offer a summary of the central issues addressed by Yavuz (2003).

Yavuz (2003) offers in his text an historical overview of the Muslim and Islamic experience in Turkey. He addresses questions regarding Islamic social movements impacting upon all Islamic countries in the region as well as the legacy of the Ottoman Empire and the effect of efforts made by Kemal Ataturk to divorce government from the laws and influence of the shariÆa or Islamic law. A central argument advanced by Yavuz (2003) is that despite the efforts of Attaturk to create a secular form of government in Turkey that would endure long after his death, since that death in 1938, Turkey has experienced a slow, but steady movement away from secularism and toward Islamization.

Yavuz (2003) discusses Islamic political identity in several chapters of the book and notes that Muslim societies have created Islam

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Approximate Word count = 874
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

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