Turkish Islamism: The Refah Party

Abstract

This paper examines the Refah Party in Turkey and addresses the following questions: what does it stand for, who leads it, who belongs to it, where is it going? The paper presents some background information about the Turkish secular state, the founding of Refah, the rise of Islamic influence in Turkish politics, and the recent success of the Refah Party. It then discusses the ideology of Refah, specifically as it applies to issues regarding the democratic, secular state, society, economics, and foreign affairs. The paper also presents information regarding the leadership and organization of Refah, and concludes with comments about the future viability of the party. Ultimately, this paper concludes that the Refah Party, although not unique from other Islamist movements in its ideological goals, is a unique product of Turkish politics, and must therefore adapt and compromise in order to function and survive within those constraints.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA425522

Entities

People

  • Karen L. Cox

Organizations

  • Air University Press

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Commerce
  • Economic Development
  • Economic Systems
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Health Care
  • International Relations
  • Middle East
  • Minority Groups
  • National Politics
  • Political Parties
  • Political Science
  • Political Systems

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.