Revival of Islam in Turkey In The 1950’s Through The Reports of American Diplomats

Revival of Islam in Turkey In The 1950’s Through The Reports of American Diplomats Kısa Özet

Son yıllarda Türkiye`de İslami hareketin yükselişi hakkında çok sayıda inceleme yayınlandı. Bu eserlerde gözlemlenen İslami hareketin ne anlama gelebileceği konusunda da sayısız yorum yapıldı. Bu kitap 1950`li yıllarda Türkiye`de görev yapmış olan Amerikan diplomatlarının raporlarını ve gözlemlerini içermekte. Bu raporlar sayesinde Türkiye`de İslami hareketin köklerinin ellili yıllara uzandığını ve günümüzde tartışılan ve anlamlandırılmaya çalışılan İslami hareket konusunda ellili yıllarda da benzeri tartışmaların yer aldığına işaret etmekte.

For the last two decades there have been countless books and debates on the subject of the revival of the Islamic movement in Turkey and its meaning: are we witnessing the transformation of the Atatürk`s Turkish Republic, founded on staunchly secular principles, into a type of theocratic Islamic state, or was the rise of political Islam simply a return to a cultural and political ?authenticity` long denied by the Kemalist regime? The present volume shows, through the reports and observations of the American diplomats stationed in Turkey in the 1950s, that the roots of Turkey`s Islamic movement lie in currents and trends already present in this period, and that much of the current discussion is not so new, but has actually been going on in western political and diplomatic circles since this time. As such, this work should prove to be an indispensable reference for the scholars working on contemporary Turkey and on the complex relations between cultural and political Islam and the secular order in Turkish society.