Promoting or Demoting Democracy Abroad? US and German reactions to the rise of political Islam in Turkey

The USA and Germany are the most important donors of foreign and development assistance to Turkey. Both countries have been faced with Islamic to Islamist government parties following the democratic accession to power of the Welfare Party (RP) in 1996/97 and, in particular, the one-party rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 2002. Putting it drastically, the do-nors are confronted with the following dilemma: Either they tolerate the omnipotent role of the semi-authoritarian Kemalist state elite (particularly the military and judiciary) in order to protect Turkey’s secular political system and pro-western orientation. Or they believe the Islamic parties’ avowals of democracy and respect their right to self determination – although, if one is to believe the Kemalists, these parties are in fact seeking the covert “Islamization ” of state and society and Turkey’s “turning away from the West”. Both alternatives are contrary to the liberal-democratic norms and the national economic and security interests of the donor countries. This study sets out to examine how the USA and Germany are dealing with this conflict of norms and interests in their policies towards Turkey: it covers the period 1995 to 2010. There is no doubt that the election victories of the RP and AKP governments were both the result and manifestation of a successful process of democratization. But the case of the AKP gov