About a decade ago, the ideology of neonationalism emerged in Turkey, espousing more or less the following view: Imperialism has mounted a fresh offensive to enslave the peoples of the Middle East. The biggest stumbling block on its march is the fully independent Republic of Turkey, the legacy of the Great Leader Ataturk and a glimmer of hope for the oppressed peoples of the world. The “moderate Islam project” is the most efficient tool being used by imperialism to destroy the Turkish republic from within.

The so-called moderate Islam project vilified in this narrative was none other than the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The neonationalists saw the AKP not as a “Turkish” reality speaking for the country’s conservative masses and responding to popular demands, but as a project designed in Washington. Accordingly, the project's sly objective was to subdue the good old fully independent republic to the “global system.” Who else would have been as treacherous as those religious reactionaries to sell out Cyprus!

The theme of a Jewish conspiracy also figured prominently in the neonationalist narrative. For instance, awards received by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Jewish organizations were portrayed as proof that he was “in the service of Zionism.” The neonationalist writer Ergun Poyraz stretched his imagination so far as to directly declare AKP leaders “crypto-Jews.” For him, Erdogan was "Moses’ son,” President Abdullah Gul was “Moses’ rose” (a reference to Gul’s surname, which means “rose” in Turkish) and the AKP was “Moses’ light bulb” (a reference to the party's emblem).

So, that was the neonationalism of the past. It caused quite a stir in Turkey in the first decade of the 2000s before gradually fading. The old neonationalists are today a group with a feeble voice. In its place, a new breed of neonationalist rhetoric, just as fervent as the old, has been on the rise in the past two years. This time, however, it is the product not of the AKP’s opponents, but its supporters.