The factors behind the rise of Islamism in Turkey remain the subject of intense scholarly
debate. There are remarkable relationships between the rise of Islamism and preceding
changes in population dynamics in Turkey. Rapid urbanization and large-scale migration of
Kurds and other ethnic minorities from the east of the county to major cities in the west created
a situation when Kemalist ideology, that was based on Turkish nationalism and secularism,
could not continue to play its nation-building role. The increasing share of ethnic minority groups
in major urban centers of the country created a need for a social transformation that can bring
people with different ethnic identities together based on a shared aspect of their identity. There
was a need for a bond that can link members of different ethnic groups to one another and to
the country as a whole. This need found its realization in Islamism as the main shared aspect of
the identity of the majority of ethnic Turks and Kurds is their religion – Sunni Islam. Islamism
offered a sense of a new superseding identity that helped to restrain existing Turkish, Kurdish
and other ethnic identities and helped to reconcile and stabilize social relationships by reducing
ethnic antagonism, tension and potential conflict. This new consolidating mechanism helped to
create a state of a strong and substantial common ground between different ethnic groups
concentrated in major metropolitan areas of Turkey. The rise of political Islam in Turkey was the
political consequence of changing social preferences and motivation that resulted in inventing
the reason for the social and political change, without recognizing and acknowledging the real
underlying motives behind it.