TY - CONF
T1 - Turkey’s Search for Identity
T2 - A Eurasian and Islamic Country
AU - Gol, Ayla
N1 - Göl, Ayla, 'Turkey’s Search for Identity: A Eurasian and Islamic Country', in Democracy, a Universal Value? Annual International Conference Casablanca, Morocco, 8–9 June, 2007
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - The revival of Islam since 9/11 has often been identified in Western media and political
discourses as a failure of modernization and the inexorable emergence of fundamentalism
and terrorism. The role of Islam in Turkish politics cannot be directly related to the rise of
Islamism in regional and global contexts after 9/11 and the US-led occupation of Iraq.
Turkey is usually described as a bridge—the so-called bridge theory—between Europe and
Asia, the West and the (Middle) East or the Western and the Islamic civilizations.1 This
identification seems logical given the fact that Turkey is geographically located between
Europe and the Middle East. Historically, Turkey was the first example of the transferring
of an Islamic empire to a secular nation-state outside Europe in the 1920s. It is also the
first Muslim country to achieve candidature for European Union (EU) membership in the
21st century. However, the ongoing debates about Turkey’s membership in the EU have
brought it to question not only its role as a bridge, but also the Turkish identity, its history
and culture in the context of European collective history and identity.
AB - The revival of Islam since 9/11 has often been identified in Western media and political
discourses as a failure of modernization and the inexorable emergence of fundamentalism
and terrorism. The role of Islam in Turkish politics cannot be directly related to the rise of
Islamism in regional and global contexts after 9/11 and the US-led occupation of Iraq.
Turkey is usually described as a bridge—the so-called bridge theory—between Europe and
Asia, the West and the (Middle) East or the Western and the Islamic civilizations.1 This
identification seems logical given the fact that Turkey is geographically located between
Europe and the Middle East. Historically, Turkey was the first example of the transferring
of an Islamic empire to a secular nation-state outside Europe in the 1920s. It is also the
first Muslim country to achieve candidature for European Union (EU) membership in the
21st century. However, the ongoing debates about Turkey’s membership in the EU have
brought it to question not only its role as a bridge, but also the Turkish identity, its history
and culture in the context of European collective history and identity.
M3 - Paper
ER -
