ABSTRACT
This chapter will examine how connection and reinterpretation worked in tandem in the 2008–13 period. The AKP’s and Gülenist’s crusade against the Kemalist Army and its allies within the Judiciary was hailed as a move in the right direction by Western actors. Throughout this period, the Islamists managed to uproot their fiercest rivals thanks to the new international legitimacy environment. However, feeling emboldened, they also started to infringe political rights with increasing frequency. These infringements attracted Western criticism, and this period witnessed many arguments in public between Western actors and the AKP. Still, the West continued seeing the AKP as a success story. Even with its shortcomings, Turkey was considered a good model for the Middle Eastern countries experimenting with new ideas and institutions in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. All this came to an end when the Gezi protests rocked the country. The Western governments and public opinion solidly sided with the protesters while the government was painted as an authoritarian force. This ended the dialogue between the West and the AKP, as the AKP saw in the protests an undemocratic attempt by the secular minority to steal the pious majority’s rights and felt betrayed by the West.
