Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: A Study in Vernacular Politics

5. Populism: Democracy Is Peace of Mind

The Welfare (and later Virtue) Party’s populism derived not only from the characteristics of its leaders, but from the manner in which the party situated its ideological message within local cultural norms. This was accomplished informally through interpretation by activists and formally by municipally sponsored events at which the party’s principles were “explained” to local residents. To explain social justice and the party’s economic platform, for instance, activists and party leaders shuttled back and forth between cultural and religious domains, between imece and hadith. The Quran and the hadith, or sayings and example of the Prophet Muhammed, enjoin neighbors , whether related or not, to actively support one another and to observe equitable distribution of resources like food and water. Principles like democracy and Islamic law (sharia) also were transmitted and apprehended within a cultural idiom. Not surprisingly, the hybridity of the Islamist movement infected these interpretations as well. As we have seen, Islamist activists and supporters were embedded within a particular economic and cultural context that conditioned their goals and the meanings they assigned to the party’s ideological statements. Thus, democracy, like sharia, had many meanings . Indeed, sometimes one was used to define the other. This chapter examines the intersection of norms, values, and political moPOPULISM : DEMOCRACY IS PEACE OF MIND 5 tives in the activities of the local Welfare Party administration in Ümraniye. On a brisk fall day, I visited Halil in the municipal building where he worked. Nefise and Sevgi, Halil’s wife and sister-in-law, accompanied me. We jumped out of the dolmuş and, dodging traffic, pushed against the wind toward a large, gray concrete building on the other side of a busy intersection. Inside the swinging glass doors, we walked through a metal detector. The alarm brayed as I went through, but no one took notice. A guard sitting at a small table waved us over, asked our business, and clipped our identity cards to a rotating holder. The lobby had an air of efficient bustle. We climbed the broad, carpeted stairs. The walls of the municipal offices were decorated with framed prints of Ottoman sultans. Halil was not at his desk, so we stepped down the hall to meet Nefise’s former co-workers and friends. Two young women sat behind a boomerang-shaped desk arrayed with computer equipment: two late-model computers, scanner, fax, and several complicated-looking telephones. The only decoration was a magazine cutout of a baby taped to the file cabinet in the corner. One of the women was Makbule. The women’s faces lit up at the sight of Nefise, and they greeted us effusively. We sat and chatted in a colorful group, the four young women in pastel tesettür coats and scarves, my dark skirt and sweater a somber contrast. A wiry old man in a white shirt brought us tea and coffee and left, wordlessly. Nefise admired the new computer her former co-workers had acquired since she left. The young women showed me the annual report they were putting together. All the slick graphics were their doing and they were justifiably proud. Nefise explained to them who I was and what I was interested in learning. She had grasped the nature of my research so well, and articulated it so clearly, that I brought her with me to my first meetings with municipal officials (who, of course, all remembered her) to introduce me. What I had initially judged in her as timidity was simply politeness and reticence, masking a keen intelligence and strong will. The young women were eager to help and sent male assistants off to collect relevant publications and materials. They were obviously in charge of this realm. Another young woman with long, brown hair entered the office, wearing a calf-length skirt, sweater, and makeup. She, too, joined in the effusive greetings. Her former co-workers had not seen Nefise since she’d left her job to marry Halil several months before. The woman with uncovered hair was an administrative assistant; in later Populism: Democracy Is Peace of Mind · 157 interviews, several male officials referred to her as proof that the Welfare Party was not intolerant of women without head scarves. Halil stuck his head in the door to let us know he was back, and retreated to his cubicle to wait for us. After a while, I left the young women to chat and moved...