Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Utku Balaban

Utku Balaban teaches in the department of anthropology and sociology at Amherst College. He is a MESA Global Academy Fellow for the academic years 2020–2021 and 2021–2022.

Manufacturing the AKP in Turkey
Textile workers at a sweatshop in Pendik, Istanbul, Turkey. Rebecca Erol/Alamy Stock PhotoFigure 1. Manufacturing output of the Turkish economy and the voting share of the major Islamist party in Turkey, 1973–2019. Created by author with data from UN Stat and Turkish Supreme Election Council.
Current Analysis

Manufacturing the AKP in Turkey

The AKP's decades-long electoral success in Turkey has been made possible by their strategic alliance with the country's small industrialists. Utku Balaban analyzes the connection between Islamism and industrialization since the rise of these urban manufacturers in the 1980s and explains the nuances
Utku Balaban • 15 min read