Movement, Exile and Place
By Christopher Houston published by Berg
ISBN 1 85973 472 3 price £42.99 hardback
ISBN 1 85973 477 4 price £14.99 paperback
Can Islam, as is often claimed, truly unite Muslim Turks and Kurds and supersede ethnicity? This is a volatile and exciting time for a country whose long history has been characterised by dramatic power play. Evolving out of two years of fieldwork in Istanbul, this book examines the fragmenting Islamist political movement in Turkey. As Turkey emerges from a repressive modernising project, various political identities are competing for influence. The Islamist movement celebrates the failure of western liberalism in Turkey and the return of politics based on Muslim ideals. However, this vision is threatened by Kurdish nationalism and the country’s chequered past.
Is Islamist multiculturalism even possible? The ethnic tensions surfacing in Turkey beg the question can Muslim Turks and Kurds can find common ground in religion? The author argues that such unification depends fundamentally upon the flexibility of the rationale behind the Islamist movement’s struggle.
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