The Enduring Hold of Islam in Turkey

Description

This is the first account in English of how Islamic religious orders dating back to Ottoman times have risen to dominate and define the future of Turkey, Europe’s awkward neighbour and the major power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Given its determined programme of secularising the people both under and after the Atatürk regime, Turkey is often projected as a model for the compatibility of Islam with parliamentary democracy. In this absorbing book, journalist and writer David S. Tonge reveals the limitations of that secularisation, and its progressive reversal, in what continues to be a profoundly religious country. He describes how Muslim Turks’ religious identity has been taken over by branches of one of Islam’s great religious orders, the Naqshbandis, whose profoundly anti-Western ethos was honed by British and French colonial incursions into the heartland of their faith.

Tonge’s history offers a salutary alternative to the wishful narrative developed by Western chancelleries during the Cold War, one which viewed Turkey as a westernising democracy. The revival of both Turkish nationalism and Islam helped President Erdoğan’s rise to power, and will shape the regime that succeeds him—illuminating and understanding Turkey’s realities of faith and religious politics has never been more important.

Reviews

‘Few outsiders are as qualified as Tonge to have written a contemporary history of Islam in Turkey. His book provides extraordinary insight into the religious underpinnings of Turkish society and politics. In the oft-bewildering era of Erdoğan, this puts a lot of things in their place. This is bound to be a precious resource for scholars of Islam, and of Turkey, for years to come.’ — Jon Lee Anderson, author, and staff writer, The New Yorker

‘Fascinating; an unknown world. Well-paced and nicely written, this may well become required reading for a range of people with a professional interest in Turkey and Islam.’ — Giles Merritt, author and commentator on Europe

‘Mabrouk (congratulations) to the author!’ — David Gardner, former Foreign International Affairs Editor, Financial Times

‘Meticulously researched and beautifully written, in clear and lively prose. This traces the history of the opaque religious communities who continue to hold real sway to this day–but whose influence is often under-appreciated by outside observers.’ — Laura Pitel, former Ankara correspondent, Financial Times

‘A very well-written and enjoyable book–of great relevance, importance and topicality.’ — Iradj Bagherzade, founder of IB Tauris and iB2 Media

‘An unparalleled exploration of the intricate relationship between Islam and Turkey’s socio-political landscape. A must-read for scholars, students and anyone interested in the dynamic interplay between religion and state in a rapidly changing world.’ — Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, Associate Professor in International Relations and Politics, London Metropolitan University

Author(s)

David S. Tonge has lived half of his life in Turkey. A scholar of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, he reported from Ankara and Athens for the BBC, Guardian and Observer, then from London as the Financial Times’ diplomatic correspondent. The author of The Kremlin’s Confidant, he grows citrus and olives.