The political trajectory of modern Turkey under the Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, is deeply rooted in the ideology of Milli Görüş, the foundational movement of political Islam in Turkey. Established in the late 1960s by Necmettin Erbakan, Milli Görüş emerged as a pan-Islamist and anti-Western force that sought to dismantle Turkey's secular state architecture and reorient its foreign policy toward the Islamic world. Although the AKP initially presented itself to Western observers as a moderate, conservative-democratic party after its electoral victory in 2002, its core leadership has consistently maintained its ideological ancestry. Over the past two decades, this ideological lineage has manifested in a systemic alignment with the global Muslim Brotherhood network, transforming Turkey into a primary state sponsor of Islamist movements across the Middle East.
Historical Origins of the Milli Görüş Movement
The ideological journey of Turkish Islamism began under the guidance of Necmettin Erbakan, a physicist-turned-politician who authored the Milli Görüş manifesto and established a series of Islamist political parties. Erbakan's movement rejected Western integration, secularism, and NATO membership, advocating instead for the unification of the Islamic world under Turkish leadership and a return to Ottoman-Islamic values. The movement was also defined by a fierce opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel, which Erbakan frequently characterized as a tool of Western imperialism. Despite successive secular-military interventions that dissolved these political factions, the Milli Görüş network successfully trained a new generation of Islamist cadres, most notably Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Under Erbakan's mentorship, Erdoğan rose to prominence in the Welfare Party, serving as the mayor of Istanbul in the mid-1990s before being imprisoned for inciting religious hatred with militant poetry. Following his release and the subsequent banning of the Welfare Party, Erdoğan and other younger reformers established the AKP in 2001 to bypass secular legal restrictions. Although they publicly claimed to have broken with their Milli Görüş past and embraced a pro-European, market-oriented democracy, this rebranding was a pragmatic strategy to secure power. Once the AKP consolidated its control over the military and the judiciary, the party gradually reverted to its foundational Islamist roots, aligning Turkey's state apparatus with transnational Islamist networks.
Key Facts of Turkey's Islamist Turn
- The Mentorship of Necmettin Erbakan: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his senior leadership team, including former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, were directly mentored by the founder of Milli Görüş.
- The Strategic Rebranding: The AKP was founded in 2001 as a tactical splinter from Erbakan's movement, designed to protect the Islamist faction from secular judicial bans while building a broad conservative electoral coalition.
- State-Sponsored Support for Hamas: Following the AKP's consolidation of power, Ankara opened its doors to Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, providing its leadership with safe haven, Turkish passports, and financial networks.
- The Arab Spring Turning Point: The 2011 regional uprisings allowed the AKP to openly champion Muslim Brotherhood affiliates, such as Mohamed Morsi's government in Egypt, in an effort to establish a Turkey-led regional order.
Geopolitical Realignment and the Brotherhood Alliance
The ideological synergy between the Milli Görüş heritage of the AKP and the global Muslim Brotherhood became fully visible during the Arab Spring in 2011, when Turkey positioned itself as the patron of regional Islamist uprisings. According to analytical reporting by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the AKP mirrors the core tenets of the Brotherhood's ideology, rejecting institutional secularism and viewing democratic processes merely as a vehicle to establish Islamist hegemony. This alignment was exemplified by Turkey's rapid diplomatic, financial, and political backing of the Mohamed Morsi administration in Egypt, which Erdogan championed as a model for the wider region. Following Morsi's ouster in 2013, Turkey became a sanctuary for exiled Egyptian Brotherhood leaders, allowing them to operate media channels and plan operations from Istanbul.
This systematic patron-client relationship extends directly to Hamas, which is historically and ideologically the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Under the AKP, Turkey transitioned from a nominal supporter of the Palestinian cause to a critical logistical and operational base for Hamas leadership, hosting figures like Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh. Research published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy underscores that the AKP's foreign policy has long been driven by an ideological commitment to these groups, rather than traditional state interests. By granting citizenship, providing diplomatic immunity, and facilitating financial flows for Hamas operatives, the Turkish state has actively enabled the group's militant and political infrastructure, directly challenging Western and regional security.
Conclusion and Strategic Implications for Israel
The transformation of Turkey under the AKP from a secular Western ally into an Islamist hub presents a profound strategic challenge to the State of Israel and regional stability. The Milli Görüş worldview, which views Israel through a deeply hostile and conspiratorial lens, now dictates Turkey's state policy and public discourse. This hostility is not merely rhetorical; it is backed by state-sanctioned support for terrorist entities and a persistent effort to delegitimize Israel on the international stage. For Israel, Turkey's alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood represents the consolidation of a hostile northern front that coordinates with regional adversaries to undermine Israeli security.
Furthermore, Turkey's alignment with the Brotherhood has alienated its traditional partners in the West, transforming the NATO member into an unreliable and often adversarial actor. By promoting political Islam, hosting terrorist commanders, and collaborating with revisionist powers like Iran and Qatar, the AKP has actively worked to erode the US-led security architecture in the Middle East. For policymakers in Jerusalem and Washington, understanding the Milli Görüş origins of the AKP is essential for recognizing that Turkey's hostile foreign policy is not a temporary aberration. Rather, it is a permanent feature of a deeply entrenched ideological regime that seeks to rebuild regional influence through the promotion of transnational Islamism.