Reminders | Political Islam rising hand in hand with America and juntas

Politics Collective

This week, we once again remind ourselves of how political Islam rose hand in hand with America and military juntas, and the destructive consequences this alliance has had for our country.

At home, Erdoğan and the AKP are rapidly losing public support, and have now turned their gaze once again towards Trump. They are seeking US backing in order to maintain their grip on power. Yet this collaboration, which has been ongoing for over twenty years, has dragged Turkey into a deep political, social, and economic collapse.

This week, we revisit some key milestones of this collapse and expose the Erdoğan-Trump relationship and the role of military juntas in elevating political Islam.

The darkness that the people are now determined to bring to an end is precisely the one created by this pro-American, junta-backed political Islamism. This is not merely a question of who holds power—it is a question of subservience to imperialism, hostility to the will of the people, and historical reactionism.

The true reconstruction of Turkey as a genuinely democratic, egalitarian, and free country will only be possible through a clear reckoning with this fascist regime and a decisive rupture from it.

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GATE TO MEDIEVAL DARKNESS: AKP AND JIHADISM ON THE STAGE OF THE ‘GREATER MIDDLE EAST’

Turkey was dragged onto the stage of the "Greater Middle East" set up by the USA with the AKP. The transformation of Turkey into a political Islamist regime by targeting its progressive background was carried out as a US project. AKP's US-led jihadist foreign policy has turned Turkey into a refugee depot, while at the same time placing it at the centre of the jihadist belt, one end of which extends to HTS. Turkey has been dragged into the medieval darkness created by a sharia fundamentalism mobilised for American interests in the Middle East.

THE USA IS THE FOUNDATION OF POLITICAL ISLAMISM

The establishment of a political Islamist regime in Turkey was directly shaped by the Middle East policies of American imperialism.

While the dissolution of the Welfare Party was a step in the reorganisation of political Islamism, the 28 February process - contrary to the AKP's claims of victimisation - played an important role in the reconstruction of the Islamist movement in line with American interests.

This was carried out in close contact with the CIA and the US Embassy, as many of the names involved in the founding of the AKP later openly stated.

Erdoğan was hosted by Bush in Washington even before he became prime minister. Erdoğan met with the then US President G. Bush at the White House and showed his commitment to the US plans for the Middle East. Erdoğan, who would later become Prime Minister, was also appointed as "Greater Middle East" Co-Chairman by the USA.

A transition was forced in Turkey in accordance with the goal of creating a moderate Islamist power generation in the Middle East on the "Greater Middle East" axis. The secular achievements of the Republic were targeted; all institutions within the state - including the army - that did not align with the new Middle East policies of the USA were forced to conform to the American policy through operations.

The AKP and its partner at the time, the Fethullah Gülen sect, took over the state step by step with US support. The sects were supported in every field from the judiciary to the police, from education to the media.

In this process, Turkey became the most loyal bearer of US interests in the Middle East. Starting in 2010 with the people's revolt in Tunisia and spreading across the region, the tremors caused by the Arab Spring were turned into an opportunity for intervention by the USA.

During this period, the AKP pursued a US-led policy of building power in the region through jihadist policies. It took an active role for regime change in Syria in alliance with CIA-backed jihadist forces. Although this policy occasionally took contradictory steps with the US, in essence it did not deviate from the American line.

In the end, Syria was destroyed as an extension of Israel's siege of the region starting from Gaza.

Syria, which was handed over to the jihadist HTS leadership, was plunged into medieval darkness leading to Alawite massacres.

All these American jihadist policies also had very important consequences for Turkey.

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TRAIN-AND-EQUIP DEAL WITH THE USA: TURKEY HAS BECOME THE CENTRE OF THE JIHADIST GENERATION

Turkey has become a military and political centre and transit base for these forces, especially since the first phase of the Syrian civil war. In this context, a Train-and- Equip agreement was signed with the United States. The agreement, signed in 2015, aimed to train 5,000 Syrian jihadists. Kırşehir was designated as one of the training centres.

This agreement is the tip of the iceberg. On the other hand, military camps were established especially in the border regions of Turkey. Many discussions about SADAT's role in these camps were also reflected in the public opinion.

Some of these groups were later deployed in areas under Turkish control, such as Idlib, while others were positioned in Libya.

Most of the groups gathered under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army are organised as part of a jihadist generation based in Turkey, with extensions in Turkey, rather than being organisations within Syria.

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AKP'S DUAL MIGRATION STRATEGY: UMMAHISM AND EXPLOITATION

AKP has pursued a planned migration policy from the very beginning.

On the one hand, migrants were used as a tool in the Syrian civil war, especially in the creation of jihadist spheres of influence. On the other hand, this mass migration gradually turned into a settled population in Turkey.

This was part of the AKP's ummahist policy of demographic transition to strengthen the base of the political Islamist regime in Turkey.

At the same time, migrants were also used to meet capital's need for cheap labour and to transform Turkey into a low-cost labour market.

Thus, migration was turned into a strategic tool not only for foreign policy but also for the class exploitation system.

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AN AFGHAN TRANSIT BASE FOR AMERICA

The transfer of power to the Taliban after the US ended its decade-long occupation of Afghanistan created a great chaos. The rise of the Taliban triggered a wave of migration and Turkey became one of its centres. Especially the US proposals for Turkey to act as a transit base with some other countries came to the agenda in this regard. For a long time, Turkey's borders were left open to Afghan migration via Iran. On the one hand, Turkey opened its borders to this migration in relation with the USA, and on the other hand, Turkey did not hesitate to establish political relations with the Sharia barbarism of the Taliban government.

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TURKEY HAS BECOME EUROPE'S REFUGEE DEPOT

One of the most important consequences of the Syrian war was that millions of people were forced to migrate.

The imperialist centres, which provoked the civil war, turned Turkey into a buffer country to protect themselves from this influx of refugees.

The most important step in this regard was the ‘Readmission Agreement’ signed between the European Union and Turkey. This agreement, signed in 2013, envisaged the return to Turkey of migrants who illegally crossed to Europe via Turkey.

In return for this agreement, the EU agreed to pay Turkey €6 billion.

In 2021, another €3 billion was added to this, totalling a commitment of €9 billion.

These payments do not go directly into the Turkish budget but are spent on harmonisation and infrastructure projects in the forms determined by the government.

As a result, Turkey is bearing the burden of the crisis created by the refugee population, reaching 10 million as a result of these policies.

This means an inhumane system that is held as a leverage in the hands of the government for the sake of Europe's security.

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BİNALİ YILDIRIM: ‘’WITHOUT US, REFUGEES WOULD INVADE EUROPE‘’

Turkey's role in the region can be clearly seen in the following words of Binali Yıldırım: ‘We are a country that ensures the security of Europe in the region. Imagine if it were not for Turkey, refugees would flood Europe from the Middle East, where there is turmoil and war, and Europe would have to live with a huge problem. Turkey is a country that can absorb and manage all the problems within itself. Europe should see this.’ (24 November 2016, TRT)

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RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: ‘IF YOU DON'T GIVE THE MONEY, WE WILL OPEN THE BORDER’

Erdoğan has made it clear that he is using refugees as a leverage against Europe.

In a speech in September 2019, he addressed Europe, which objected to Turkey's military intervention in Syria, as follows: 'European Union, behave yourselves. If you try to describe our current operation as an occupation, then our task is easy: we will open the borders and send 3.6 million refugees to you."

At the same time, Erdoğan was seeking support for the safe zone plan, saying: ‘If it is a good offer, let's start this work, but no. We will continue to pursue. This journey may take us to different places. What is a different place? If it happens, we will have to open the borders."

Another threat came up in the context of the money negotiations with the EU. Erdoğan stated that the EU did not keep its promises and repeatedly expressed that the borders could be opened if the money did not arrive saying, ‘They were going to send 3 billion Euros, it has not arrived yet’.

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JUNTAS, AMERICA AND POLITICAL ISLAM: POLITICAL ISLAM IS THE OTHER FACE OF THE JUNTA.

CHP Chair Özgür Özel’s description of President Erdoğan as a “putschist and head of the junta” following the judicial operation targeting Ekrem İmamoğlu has sparked a new political debate. In response to these accusations, Erdoğan felt compelled to deliver what was essentially a “history of juntas” in his parliamentary group speech. Yet regardless of what he says, his move to eliminate İmamoğlu was repelled by the people's resistance. As in many other cases, the AKP was once again forced to retreat from yet another “line of defence” it had set up.

One of the most recent examples of this took place in the sphere of youth. In the past weeks, Erdoğan targeted Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades by saying, “If you present thieves as role models, this is the result.” He tried to discredit the resisting youth. However, faced with public backlash, he quickly walked back his rhetoric. This time, he attempted to reach out to young people by accusing the CHP of being complicit in the executions of Deniz and his friends—yet another sign of political confusion and inconsistency.

FROM MILITARY TUTELAGE TO ISLAMIST TUTELAGE

The AKP’s core claim in its early years was that it would end “military tutelage” and develop democracy in Turkey. This claim was adorned with EU accession talks and legitimised with the support of liberal circles. However, the 2010 referendum became less a move to end military tutelage and more a stage for a power struggle between two political Islamist factions—AKP and FETÖ. Only six years after that referendum, Turkey witnessed FETÖ’s bloody coup attempt on 15 July 2016. Although the coup was quashed, the subsequent state of emergency turned into a “civilian coup” targeting all social opposition. During this period, a “one-man regime” was constructed through fraudulent and oppressive methods.

COUPS AND AMERICAN INTERVENTIONS

All the coups in Turkey have been shaped directly or indirectly by American imperialist interventions. The 12 March and 12 September military coups were clearly pro-American. These interventions were not merely about changing governments; they were steps aimed at reconstructing Turkey’s social fabric. Under Cold War conditions, Turkey was incorporated into NATO as part of the policy to encircle the Soviet Union. The structure of the military was reshaped in line with this aim. Counter-guerrilla organisations founded under the banner of fighting communism, fascist nationalist movements, and political Islamist groups were all interconnected components of the same strategy.

These groups were used to suppress the growing leftist and social movements. When massacres, assassinations, and provocations were not enough, direct military coups were deployed. The main goal of these interventions was to prevent the awakening of the people and the rise of the left, and to replace them with a state order rebuilt on the foundation of the Turkish-Islamic synthesis. The 12 September coup functioned not only as an act of suppression but as a “foundational intervention.” Political Islam, made into state policy, was systematically developed in all areas from education and the judiciary to the media and broader social structures.

Political Islamism was shaped as part of American strategies ranging from the Green Belt Project to the Greater Middle East Project (BOP). This ideological line not only served US foreign policy but also led to Turkey’s reactionary transformation.

Today, the political Islamist cadres who govern Turkey set out under the slogan of “democracy against military tutelage.” But they have reached a point where they now operate with the very methods of the juntas they once claimed to oppose.

For this reason, it must be stated clearly: Political Islam is the other face of the junta. Both are different forms of suppressing the people’s will, silencing social opposition, and serving imperialism.

Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Hatırlatmalar | Cuntalar, Amerika ve siyasal İslam: Siyasal İslam cuntanın öbür yüzüdür, published in BirGün newspaper on April 13, 2025.