In November of 2002, the Justice and Development Party swept to victory in the Turkish parliamentary elections. Because of the party's Islamic roots, its electoral triumph has sparked a host of questions both in Turkey and in the West: Does the party harbor a secret Islamist agenda? Will the new government seek to overturn nearly a century of secularization stemming from Kemal Ataturk's early-twentieth-century reforms? Most fundamentally, is Islam compatible with democracy?

In this penetrating work, M. Hakan Yavuz seeks to answer these questions, and to provide a comprehensive analysis...

In November of 2002, the Justice and Development Party swept to victory in the Turkish parliamentary elections. Because of the party's Islamic roots, its electoral triumph has sparked a host of questions both in Turkey and in the West: Does the party harbor a secret Islamist agenda? Will the new government seek to overturn nearly a century of secularization stemming from Kemal Ataturk's early-twentieth-century reforms? Most fundamentally, is Islam compatible with democracy?

In this penetrating work, M. Hakan Yavuz seeks to answer these questions, and to provide a comprehensive analysis...

This book examines recent reformations of Islam and culture in Turkey and the successful Islamic modernist Fethullah Gulen movement. Combining a devotion to Islam with love for modern learning, especially modern science, the Fethullah Gulen movement has gained a substantial following in Turkey over the past twenty years, and since 1991 has achieved great influence in Central Asia through the establishment of schools. Contributors explore the origins and establishment of the Gulen movement, its intellectual and religious formation, its spread across Turkey and Central Asia, and its influence...

This work examines reformations of Islam and culture in Turkey and the successful Islamic modernist Fethullah Gulen movement.

M. Hakan Yavuz offers an insightful and wide-ranging study of the Gulen Movement, one of the most imaginative developments in contemporary Islam. Founded in Turkey by the Muslim thinker Fethullah Gulen, the Gulen Movement aims to disseminate a ''moderate'' interpretation of Islam through faith-based education. Its activities have fundamentally altered religious and political discourse in Turkey in recent decades, and its schools and other institutions have been established throughout Central Asia and the Balkans, as well as western Europe and North America. Consequently, its goals and modus...