Ulema’nın Kılıcı: Türkiye’de İslamcı Dinamik ve Sınıfsal Yeniden Üretim [Das Schwert der Ulema: Islamistische Dynamik und Reproduktion von Klassen in der Türkei]

Babacan, Errol

Abstract

This article argues that the political transformation in Turkey is accompanied by a cultural transformation that is executed by a social agent, whose societal significance is yet to be defined. Conceptualized as “Islamic dynamic”, this transformation affects every sector of society through the exclusion and repression of dissident cultural practices. It comes to the fore as a Culture War. The executor of this process is identified as Sunni clerics, who fulfill hegemonic tasks in association with the ruling classes and reproduce themselves within state institutions and private organisations. On the basis of having achieved a monopoly on religious practices, the clerics have obtained an institutionalized privileged status and a group interest that is constituted by the retention and extension of this status. The ulema affiliated with the Diyanet occur as an archetype of these clerics. The Islamic dynamic is driven by struggles based upon the reproduction of their status. The article tackles the question of defining the reproduction mechanisms of these clerics and argues that these mechanisms are constituted by the conversion of religiously articulated cultural and social practices into resources that grant access to political power and economic means.