Turkey’s “culture wars”: a post-election analysis

Abstract

The deeper plot that lies beneath the results of 14–28 May double elections and Turkey’s fateful slip into authoritarianism is one of “culture wars”. The culture wars perspective reminds us that background factors such as nationalism and Islam explain little in and of themselves. They are part of the symbolic framework which makes particular political arrangements possible and acceptable. Turkey does not have a unified society held together by an overarching moral vision; each community is ready to form an alliance with the state to further its own interests.