A Secular Pan-Turkism to Turkish – Islam Synthesis

Abstract Turkish and Middle East studies scholars mostly dismiss the role of civic nationalism and fail to differentiate between the state-imposed form of nationalism, and civic nationalism as it relates to the mhp (Nationalist Movement Party) in Turkey. mhp scholars also rarely study the party’s history and intellectual origins from a social movement perspective. The mhp has a long and complex history, rooted in the social and political transformations of Turkish society from the late 19th to early 21st centuries, producing a counterargument to state-imposed Kemalist Nationalism. It has transformed from its origins as an intellectual nationalist movement, to a more populist political party, specifically under the leadership of Devlet Bahceli. In this process, it has lost much of its ideological orientation and intellectual origins. Therefore, over the last twenty years, we have seen a transformation in the party from Pan-Turkish ideology to a concern with more local politics.