The Structural Roots of Turkey’s Power Struggle

A fierce power struggle between the governing AK Party and the Gülen Movement had dominated Turkey’s political scene, generating wide interest both domestically and internationally. Thus far, conjectural factors had been largely blamed for the crisis. Yet, it was the structural factors that had facilitated the feud and could better illuminate it, specifically Turkey’s overly centralized and identity-imposing state and the Gülen Movement’s inclination to attempt to influence policy even while not in government. This posed a grave challenge to Turkey’s democracy and civilian politics. Turkey needed to address these structural challenges by devolving power to local administrations, eliminating the state’s ability of social engineering, and increasing the transparency of religious groups.