Introduction

Many scholars tend to analyse and debate the AKP’s rise to power, its political identity – especially in relation to religion – as well as Turkey’s present dire circumstances through established bipolar schemas: Kemalism versus Islamism, or secularism vs. anti-secularism/secularity versus religiosity, and democracy versus authoritarianism. The Republic of Turkey was founded in October 1923 after Mustafa Kemal – a reformist officer in the Ottoman army and champion of ‘national’ resistance to the punitive settlement imposed by the Allies after Turkey’s defeat in the First World War – led a victorious war against the Greeks and the great powers. The borders of the new nation-state were designated and ratified by the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923. Mustafa Kemal’s reforms were presented as original initiatives that – rather than aping foreign forms – actually sought to restore Turkey’s pre-Islamic values. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.