View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Istanbul Sehir University Repository $UQROG-7R\QEHHDQG,VODPLVPLQ&ROG:DU²(UD7XUNH\&LYLOL]DWLRQLVP LQWKH:ULWLQJVRI6H]DL.DUDNRo &HPLO$\GLQ%XUKDQHWWLQ'XUDQ &RPSDUDWLYH6WXGLHVRI6RXWK$VLD$IULFDDQGWKH0LGGOH(DVW9ROXPH 1XPEHU$XJXVWSS $UWLFOH 3XEOLVKHGE\'XNH8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV )RUDGGLWLRQDOLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKLVDUWLFOH KWWSVPXVHMKXHGXDUWLFOH Access provided by ISTANBUL SEHIR UNIVERSITESI (29 Apr 2016 09:31 GMT) EMPIRE to REPUBLIC Arnold J. Toynbee and Islamism in Cold War – Era Turkey Civilizationism in the Writings of Sezai Karakoç Cemil Aydin and Burhanettin Duran tudies on the formation of modern Islamist thought in Turkey often provide a long- term perspec- tive, linking the Islamist political orientations with Pan- Islamist thought of the late Ottoman era. S This continuity thesis, however, neglects the crucial transformations in Islamism in the post – World War II period, when the international politics of Cold War and decolonization struggles coincided with the boom of Islamist intellectual writings in secular Republican Turkey. This article concentrates on the crucial additions to and reinterpretations of Islamist thought in Turkey during the Cold War and post – Cold War period by focusing on the civilizationist worldview of Sezai Karakoç (1933 – ), whose influ- ential writings on the civilizational resurrection (diriliş) of Islam have not received the scholarly attention they deserve. By deconstructing Karakoç’s ideas on civilizational Islam and putting them in relation to the writings and influence of British historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1889 – 1975), this article attempts to achieve several objectives: first, it tries to establish the connections between global intellectual history and Islamist thought in Cold War Turkey. Second, it traces the long- term impact of the civilizational theory of world history and politics during the Cold War period on the relations of contemporary Turkey with Europe as well as the Muslim- majority countries in the region. Finally, it aims to explain the resurfacing and popularity of civilizational theses promoted by post – Cold War theorists, be it in terms of “dialogue” or “clashes” among multiple civilizations. Karakoç was born in the year of 1933, in the Eastern Anatolian town Ergani, at the peak of the Westernist cultural revolutions implemented by the Kemalist elite in Turkey. He was raised during the one- party authoritarian secularist rule of the Republican People’s Party in Turkey, when school children in Anatolia were taught the virtues of Western civilization, modernization, and Turkish nationalism. At the same time, as a student without financial means, Karakoç benefited from the free public education of the young republic, completing almost all of his education on government scholarship, including his university training in the prestigious Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University. Upon graduation from university in 1955, Karakoç worked for the Turkish Ministry of Finance in various capacities, partly to fulfill the compulsory public service condition of his government scholarship. Since his resignation from public service in 1973, Karakoç has been earning his living from the sale of his publications on po- litical and cultural issues, as well as his poetry book. 310 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East Vol. 35, No. 2, 2015 • doi 10.1215/1089201x-3139084 • © 2015 by Duke University Press Cemil Aydin and Burhanettin Duran • Civilizationism in the Writings of Sezai Karakoç 311 The period of Sezai Karakoç’s youth coin- titled “Mona Rosa,” in modern Turkish literature.1 cided with the destruction of Europe in WWII, More important, as a bookish intellectual and an the emergence of Cold War global politics, and avid follower of world trends, he wrote important the postwar period of decolonization in Muslim- essays on the politics of civilizational identities and majority countries all over Asia and Africa. Kara- his vision of Islamic civilization’s revival that are koç started to express his political ideas in the influential today. When he was selected for the lit- 1950s, during the first multiparty political experi- erature award by the Turkish Ministry of Culture ment of democratization in Turkey. In this Cold and Tourism in 2007, the documentary prepared War context, Karakoç was deeply interested in in his honor by the Turkish Television and Radio independence struggles in Tunis and Algeria as Company featured testimonies from leading poli- well as the question of Palestine. Meanwhile, other ticians and intellectuals in Turkey. At the age of Islamist writers like Necip Fazıl Kısakürek and eighty- two, he still attracts visits and praises by Nurettin Topçu, who were older than Karakoç and leading politicians, even though he remains criti- influenced him, were trying to redefine secular cal of foreign and domestic policies in Turkey.2 Turkish nationalism by identifying it with Islam Karakoç’s current ascetic life did not prevent on the intellectual level. By merging nationalism him from shaping the Islamist thought of two gen- and Muslim faith, they were able to express Is- erations from the 1960s to the 1990s. When he was lamist ideas to criticize the secularism of Kemalist awarded Turkey’s presidential award for services reforms. However, the close relationship that was to Turkish literature in 2011, Karakoç declined to established by these intellectuals between Islam appear in the ceremony in his honor at the presi- and nationalism was reshaped by Karakoç in a dential palace.3 Yet, when the presidential award more internationalist and civilizationist manner, was announced, Turkish newspapers noted that employing Toynbee’s broader framework of world President Abdullah Gül himself was an avid reader history. Thus, Karakoç became a representative of Karakoç’s poetry and essays during his youth.4 figure in re- internationalizing Islamism in Turkey His vision of the civilizational revival of Islam be- and connecting it with a new postcolonial third- came embraced by many politicians and ideolo- wordlist political vision through the language of gies of Turkish conservative Democrats. Part of civilizationism. Karakoç’s appeal and reputation comes from his Karakoç remained a kind of mystic intellec- detachment from power centers and his humble tual, preferring to stay outside the mainstream lifestyle. Yet, the main reason for his influence is organizations, parties, and movements. Thus, he the appeal of his civilizational framework for in- cannot be considered an ideologue of any of the terpreting history, religious issues, and the politics influential mass conservative democratic parties of educated publics in Turkey and beyond. There- such as the Justice and Development Party ( JDP). fore, Karakoç’s civilizationist worldview should be Yet, his critiques of Western civilization and his vi- examined in order to better understand the global sion of a Muslim civilizational revival exerted sig- intellectual history and political implications of nificant influence on several generations of con- the discourse of civilization in relation to the Cold servative intellectuals of Turkey, and they allow War, decolonization struggles, Westernization pro- us to better understand the content and nature cesses in Muslim societies, and the post – Cold War of Islamist political orientation in contemporary era rise of political Islam. Karakoç was an active Turkey. Karakoç is known as a very talented poet, witness to all of these processes and contributed to composing one of the most celebrated love poems, the general Muslim intellectual response to them. 1. For more information on Karakoç’s poetry, 3. Similarly, Sezai Karakoç earlier declined to 4. See “President Gül Giving an Award to this see Karataş, Doğu’nun Yedinci Oğlu, 211 – 19. appear in the ceremony when he was the re- Intellectual Mentor” (“Cumhurbaşkanı Gül’den cipient of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and ‘fikir hocasına’ ödül”), Sabah, December 27, 2. TRT Sezai Karakoç Belgeseli (the Turkish Radio Tourism Grand Award in 2007. 2011, www.sabah.com.tr/Gundem/2011/12/27 Television Corporation documentary on Sezai /cumhurbaskani- gulden- fikir- hocasina- odul. Karakoç) was first broadcast on September 10, 2010. It was titled “Gün Doğmadan” (“Before the Dawn”) in reference to a poem by Karakoç. 312 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East • 35:2 • 2015 As a well- educated writer familiar with European ficers explain to their loyal Muslim subjects the intellectuals, especially Toynbee, Karakoç illus- true nature of Muslim political theory on both trated the importance of the circulation of ideas the caliphate and the Ottoman Empire.8 Yet, even on a global scale. when the British Empire ruled over more Muslims than Christians, Toynbee considered it a represen- Toynbee as a Global Intellectual tative of Western civilization, while the Ottoman Before analyzing Karakoç’s civilizationism, it is Empire ruling over Armenians, Greeks, and Jews important to examine the importance of Toynbee was considered a representative of the Muslim as a global intellectual whose world history model world. Toynbee seemed relieved by the disintegra- influenced Karakoç tremendously.5 Toynbee was tion of the Ottoman Empire and abolishment of educated at Oxford and began teaching at Balliol the Ottoman Caliphate after WWI, and during College in 1912. He became a professor of modern the interwar years, Toynbee’s relationship with Greek