May 29, 2012

The role of civil society in Turkey's democratization

Bülent Keneş

In the speech I delivered at a conference titled “Democracy and Social Conflict in Korea and Turkey” held by Seoul University last week, I noted that although it appears the entity that has led the recent historic democratic transformation in Turkey is the Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- i.e., a political party that is part of the political superstructure -- the real driving force behind this change is the ever-growing sociopolitical infrastructure. I further underlined the undeniable role the Hizmet movement, inspired by the ideas of the esteemed Fethullah Gülen, as a rising part of Turkey's sociopolitical infrastructure, is playing in Turkey's democratic transformation. Now, I will try to elaborate on this argument.