by Begum Burak

In Turkey, in my opinion, while discussing daily political and social issues, the most prominent conceptual confusion is seen in the difference between “conservative” and “pious”. When one talks about piety, what I simply understand is the performance of daily prayers (in Islam that is five times a day), fasting during the Holy month Ramadan…and so on. On the other hand, a conservative person may be politically conservative and vote for the right-wing parties while leading a traditional life in which family-related values dominate, but he/she may not perform the basic religious activities. However, in the Turkish case these two words “conservative” and “pious” are generally used interchangeably. For instance, the fact that a conservative person may vote for Islamist parties does not mean that it leads an Islamic way of life (which I see necessary in order to be a devout Muslim)

My argument in this article is that a pious person does not necessarily mean that this person is also (politically) conservative or vice versa. Another crucial point that is noteworthy here in leading us to understand the distinction between conservatism and piety is about the segments in the Turkish society. As known, there are two main segments in Turkey: one is the (ultra) Kemalist/Statist/Secularist[1] CHP voters (Republican People’s Party – the main opposition party in Turkey); and the other one is the segment consisting of Conservative/Economically and Politically liberal/Defending an Anglo-Saxon type of Secularism. (Mainly the AKP voters – the Justice and Development Party, the ruling party in Turkey since 2002). The first segment is called “white Turks” and they see themselves as “enlightened and modern”. Also they attach themselves to an interesting mission of “enlightening the society” which is (according to them) backward just because of the religion.

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