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[Special Feature: The Dynamics of Islamic Knowledge and Practice: Across Texts, Rituals, and Societies] Khoja Ahmad Yasavî in the Speeches of Turkish Presidents between 1998 and 2022

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines the representation of Khoja Ahmad Yasavî in the political speeches of Turkish presidents between 1998 and 2022. Drawing on discourse analysis of selected addresses by Süleyman Demirel, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Abdullah Gül, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the study explores how Yasavî has been instrumentalized as a unifying figure in Turkey's foreign policy in the context of the newly independent Central Asian republics. Despite differences in political orientation, all four presidents consistently invoked Yasavî as a symbol of shared heritage, cultural continuity, and Turkic unity. The analysis reveals how Yasavî is rhetorically associated with other iconic Sufi figures such as Yunus Emre, Hacı Bektaş Velî, and Rūmī, as well as with places central to Turkic identity, including Turkistan, Anatolia, and Kazakhstan. While Sezer framed Yasavî in secular and cultural terms, Erdoğan emphasized religious and nationalist dimensions, whereas Demirel and Gül highlighted themes of Turkic fraternity and Turkish Kazakh partnership. The study concludes that Yasavî serves as a symbolic bridge across the Turkic world, illustrating how spiritual and cultural memory is mobilized for diplomatic and political purposes in contemporary Turkish foreign policy.
DOI: 10.17983/kbias_19_73
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7158205442
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