A Convergence of Rival Ideologies: The Sociological and Organizational Structures of Anti-labour Politics in Turkey

?erif Mardin, one of Turkey's most prominent sociologists, recently stated that ‘there is a deep silence about the working class in Turkey'. This article will try to analyse the factors that cause this ‘deep silence', which, paradoxically, is observed even by the competing Kemalist and Islamic political actors. In other words, the ‘deep silence' refers to the common perspective on the working class of the otherwise different and competing groups. This can be called their solidaristic view, the purpose of which is essentially to provide solidarity among government officials, merchants and peasants that eventually formed the basis of European corporatism. Although it outlines the historical manifestation of the solidarist view, this paper focuses particularly on how Islamic actors maintain that view. This is a problem that requires the examination of various factors around a key question. How is it that competing groups are in harmony in the matter of their ideological positions on the working class?