ABSTRACT
At a point when the threat of Islamic terrorism is widely perceived as having
thrown Transatlantic security at risk, a remarkable development took place
in Turkey in 2002: a pragmatic-conservative and Islam-sensitive party-the
Justice and Development Party, henceforth JDP-came to power by elec-
tions and ‘‘propelled Turkey into an open-ended path of European style nor-
malization’’ (Belge 2004: 5) to converge with the European Union (EU)
standards in almost all walks of life. Operating within the parameters of a strict
secular state system and through a series of reforms in civil-military relations, the judiciary, parliamentary procedure, minority rights, national security, mac-
roeconomic management and the public sector, the JDP government endea-
vored to improve political and economic life with the EU accession process in
mind. While the JDP’s policies reinvigorated the political system, they also
posed a strategic dilemma to the existing secular power elite. The decisive factor
in setting in motion these changes was not just the ‘articulation’ of the ‘demo-
cratic reformist’ character of the ruling party with its ‘Islamist’ pedigree. In part,
it was the priority the JDP placed on reducing the power of traditional centers of power, spearheaded by the military. Translated into political language, the ruling
party’s plan of action seemed to move from maintaining traditional security
concerns, which revolved around protecting the interests of a sanctified state as
the centerpiece of Turkish politics. It was this unusual combination of the Islam-
friendly character of the JDP with a ‘genuine-sounding democracy program’
which was anathema to the secular power-wielders of the Republic.
