Modernization,Religion and Politics in Turkey:The Case of Iskenderpasa Community (Naqshbandi) Emin Yasar Demirci (Ph.D., Manchester University, 1997) is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Yuzuncu Yil University in Van, Turkey.

Modernization, Religion and Politics in Turkey: The Case of Iskenderpasa Community

Emin Yasar Demirci (Ph.D., Manchester University, 1997) is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Yuzuncu Yil University in Van, Turkey.

This book analyzes modernisation, religion and politics with special reference to the Iskenderpasa Community, a religious group historically rooted in the Naqshbandi tradition in Turkey. The present study expounds the role of Islam in the process of economic rationalisation, the issue of secularism and democracy in an Islamic culture, and the role of Islam in the political process and nation-building, all in reference to the Iskenderpasa Community. As Demirci's discursive analysis of the Iskenderpasa Community between 1980s and 1990s suggests, this Islamic revivalist group has been highly adaptive to the changing circumstances in time and space

The most influential of traditional religious brotherhoods is the Naqshbandi community, whose members include many prominent politicians including the late President Turgut Ozal, former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, and the current Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, all of whom belong to the Iskenderpasa community of the Naqshbandi brotherhood in Istanbul. This fact alone is surely sufficient enough to demonstrate the importance of understanding the teachings of that community --Sahin Alpay
Zaman Newspaper

Amazon Link :https://www.amazon.com/Modernisation-Religion-Politics-Turkey-Iskenderpasa/dp/6055949075
Wikepedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_%C4%B0skenderpa%C5%9Fa

History

The Jamia of İskenderpaşa was first established by Mehmed Zahid Kotku (1897–1980) when he was appointed as the imam of İskender Pasha Mosque in Fatih district of Istanbul, which was constructed by the Grand Vizier Skender Pasha of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (reigned 1481–1512). The leader of the jamia after Kotku's death was Mahmud Esad Coşan. Nowadays, Coşan's son Muharrem Nureddin Coşan is the leader of this jamia.

Notable members

This community has many prominent members, including current Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Former Prime Ministers of Turkey

Necmettin Erbakan, Turgut Özal and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Former President of Turkey

Turgut Özal.

Other ministers, political party leaders, and members of parliament[

Abdülkadir Aksu, Beşir Atalay,[2] Recai Kutan, Korkut Özal, Hasan Hüseyin Ceylan, Cevat Ayhan, Ahmet Tekdal, Akif Gülle, Temel Karamollaoğlu and Nevzat Yalçıntaş

Iskenderpasa Website in English:http://www.iskenderpasa.com/