An Islamist Turkish party’s journey to democracy and modernity

Abstract

On 3 November 2002 Turkey and the world witnessed a peaceful civil, political, social and cultural revolution, which they did not expect and in some cases, did not desire. The name of the party responsible reflects its hybrid traditional-modern nature along with its search for authenticity and contemporaneity. The Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP - Justice and Development Party) takes the first word of its name from the Arabic adalat; while the second word, coined recently, is ‘pure’ Turkish deriving from the verb kalkmak (to rise). The original pure Turkish term for development that has replaced the old Arabic inkishaf was gelişmek.