Muslim Democrats or Islamists in Disguise? The rise and electoral success of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey has raised a fierce debate about the future political course of the country. Is Turkey on its way to drift away from its traditional course of western integration? Many observers see the Islamic outlook of the incumbent government as a restraint to the country’s Europeanization. Dietrich Jung will shed some light on the complexities of contemporary Turkish politics and argues that the “Islamization” of the country is intimately linked to the EU accession process.
Dietrich Jung is the co-editor of Religion, Politics and Turkey’s EU Accession (New York: Palgrave, 2008) and the author of Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere (London: Equinox, 2011).
