ABSTRACT
The fi rst Turkish political party with explicit Islamic references was the Millî Nizam Partisi (MNP−National Order Party) founded on 28 January 1970 under the leadership of Necmettin Erbakan, an independent deputy from Konya and a professor of engineering at the prestigious İstanbul Technical University.1 Mehmet Zahit Kotku, the sheikh of the İskender Paşa community of the Nakşibendi order (tarikat) strongly encouraged the formation of an Islamist party. Erbakan and some of the other founders of the MNP belonged to that community. But the party was also joined by some prominent members of another infl uential Islamic community, the Nurcus.2
