Islamist Views on Foreign Policy: Examples of Turkish Pan-Islamism in the Writings of Sezai Karakoç and Necmettin Erbakan

Abstract:

In the case of Turkey, competing foreign policy perspectives have always represented a central issue in the ideological clash between Kemalism and Islamism, revolving around the definition of Turkey’s identity and its future in the international arena. This paper analyses the foreign policy writings of two dissimilar figures of Turkey’s political Islam, namely Necmettin Erbakan and Sezai Karakoç, both considered central for the development of the Islamist ideology in Turkey.

This study explores their texts and detects similitudes revealing their common connection with Turkey’s expression of the Pan-Islamist trend that reemerged during the Cold War. The analysis of these two authors concludes by pointing out the nationalist element characterising Turkish Islamism –and Turkish Pan-Islamism– in comparison with analogous non-Turkish expressions of this ideology.