"DEMOKRATİK AÇILIM" İLE "MİLLÎ BİRLİK VE KARDEŞLİK PROJESİ" ARASINDA AK PARTİ DÖNEMİ KİMLİK POLİTİKALARI

In this paper, we try to explain how the identity politics during Justice and Development Party (JDP) rule since 2002 is formed around “Muslim identity”, “Alevi identity” and “Kurdish identity” in the context of debates on cultural rights, identity politics and multiculturalism. In this context, JDP follows traditional conservative political discourses and policies on the one hand and other discourses and policies based on cultural recognition in terms of identity politics on the other hand. Identity politics under JDP rule, in its dualist structure, is based on a discourse of expanding rights and liberties without giving concessions about public order. In this paper, we try to explain the reflections of this discourse in the realm of politics in terms of JDP’s policies about Kurdish and Alevi identity. As a result, it is suggested that JDP’s identity policies appear as not only a political opening but also a social and cultural transformation project.