The breaking up of Turkey’s Islamic alliance: the AKP-Gulen conflict and implications for Middle East studies

Turkey’s Islamic movement increased its power dramatically during the first decade of the 2000s, benefiting from the cooperation of the AKP and the Gulen movement. This alliance allowed Islamic actors to control major state functions following several decades of struggle against secularist elites. Yet, to the surprise of most observers, the alliance began to fall apart in 2011 and quickly evolved into a fierce battle between the AKP government and the Gulenists. Demonstrating how Islamic ties were cross-cut by political cleavages, the Turkish case challenged dominant approaches which overemphasized religious identities in explaining the behavior of Islamic actors.