Religion, Politics and Non-public Welfare in Turkey: New and Vintage Forms of Religiously Motivated Associations

This paper explores the realm of non-public welfare provisioning in Turkey, by studying the contemporary functioning and historical roots of religiously motivated associations (RMAs). The empirical findings are based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the volunteers and administrators of twenty-seven RMAs in three cities. The interviews—which were centered on the motivations, functioning and connections of the RMAs—aimed to attain a comprehensive understanding of RMAs as non-public policy providers. An analysis of a selected sample of associations provides the reader with an understanding of the existing differences in the ideological and political stand points of these seemingly new, but actually old actors in the welfare arena, and also shed light on the political economy of welfare provision by these associations. Additionally, a detailed analysis of foundation histories, motivations and connections of RMAs reveal important clues on why these associations have been playing an important role as affectively politicized organizations of change in Turkish society in the last decades.