ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the use of the past in the political discourse of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (JDP). We explore how the JDP utilizes culture, heritage, the past, and memory to culturalize social, economic, and political issues. This case-specific exploration of the JDP’s culture and heritage discourse will shed light on similar mechanisms used across Europe. Through a discourse analysis of the official texts produced by the JDP and the speeches of the party leaders and government officials, we explore how neoliberal policies have shaped the formulation of a ‘past’ drawing on religion and religious differences through an emphasis on Turkey’s Ottoman past and its Muslim characteristics. This has become a strategic instrument for the JDP in its selective revival of Ottoman past to govern the memories of its constituents through Islam, Ottomanism, and neo-Ottomanism.
