Rethinking Islamic Hegemony in Turkey through Gezi Park

Abstract:

The massive demonstrations of June 2013 against the Turkish government constitute a new element in the country's social reality. After many years, new dynamics have risen to the surface, claiming the ‘new’, outside the context of the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) hegemony. At the same time, these demonstrations offer the opportunity to re-evaluate political power in Turkey. With that in mind, this paper aims to decode the perceptions and strategies that the AKP have developed on issues such as democracy and the transformation of public space, and the way that these are related to the ideological background of historic sites such as Istanbul and Gezi Park. It also seeks to address the protests of June 2013 as an opportunity to understand the content given by the AKP on concepts of strategic importance such as democracy, the nation–millet, urban transformation and the Imperial–Islamic heritage of Istanbul.