The periphery's march to the center: The rise and decline of Islamist and Kurdish extremism in Turkey

The dissertation examines the rise of radical Islamist and Kurdish movements in Turkey and considers their possibility to moderate and integrate into plural political systems. In contrast to popular views, ethnic or religious demands are not always superior to economic interests. The electoral volatility among the Islamic and Kurdish constituencies shows that these actors are open to political options that do not involve a religious or ethnic agenda as long as they include the delivery of certain economic benefits. Therefore, moderation of Islamist and Kurdish movements is possible through a circulation of elites, redistribution of resources, and the decline of the center-periphery gap in the country. Economic actors can play a particularly important role in this moderation in the absence of an alternative, effective third sector. Following Turkey's rapprochement with the European Union, a neo-liberal alliance between old (secularist) urban and new (Islamist) provincial elites was formed which harnessed the interests of the Islamist entrepreneurs. As a consequence, Islamist entrepreneurs left the radical Islamist group and established the moderate Justice and Development Party (AKP) which gained a major electoral victory. Finally, once the AKP proved its capacity to carry its supporters from the periphery to the center, it started to absorb the Kurdish constituency as well.