The transformation of Turkey's Islamic media and its marriage with neo-liberalism

The Islamic press in Turkey started at the beginning of the 20(th) century as a reaction to the secularist Young Turks' revolution of 1908. In the Republican period, Sufi orders and other religious communities maintained internal communication via periodicals despite being interrupted by the 1960, 1971 and 1980 coup d'etats. In the 1990s, the first private Islamic TV channels were opened and soon were targeted by the Turkish Armed Forces through mainstream media in the run-up to the 1997 military memorandum. Only after Erdogan came to power did the Islamic media find favourable conditions to flourish, lining up with Erdogan's AKP. However, there are still small dissident groups who struggle for an independent identity.