Özet:

In this study, a comparative analysis is made on Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities in Uzbekistan and Turkey, a movement which was initiated in 1953 by Takiyuddin en-Nebhani to establish a global Islamic state and caliphate. The study has two parts. In the first part, some information about the establishment process, ideology, and methodology of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) is presented. In the second part, Hizb ut-Tahrir`s activities in Uzbekistan and Turkey are examined. HT aimed to operate in Arabic-speaking countries in the first place, but later, it established a global network of activities. Currently, HT, which operates in 45 different countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, has become an international movement. The Soviet Union's negative attitudes towards the people's faith and its imposition of atheism as a state policy prevented many Muslims in Central Asia from practicing their religion in comfortable manner. During this time, public access to religious information has become increasingly difficult. This has led to the emergence of a hunger for religious knowledge. With the dissolution of the Soviets, obstacles to religious knowledge and life were also eliminated. This new environment attracted the attention of many religious movements. Many religious and political movements have engaged in various activities to become active in this region. One of these movements is Hizb ut-Tahrir. HT's ideas came through students from Jordan and Palestine who studied at higher education institutions in the region in the late 1970s. But, this influence was limited due to the circumstances of the period. HT increased its effectiveness with its activities in the Fergana Valley in 1995 and soon spread to neighbouring countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. One of the countries in which HT tries to be active is Turkey, which was established after the fall of the Ottoman Empire that reigned the Islamic world as caliphate between 1517 and 1924. HT's first activities in Turkey began in the 1960s through Jordanian students sent here to spread the party ideology. HT quickly sat on the country's agenda with the pamphlets it circulated. Carrying on its activities later on, HT announced that it had established the province of Turkey in 2005. Yilmaz Celik was brought to the responsibility of the movement. However, this statement was not an official one. For, such a movement could not have been officially allowed to be established in Turkey by the authorities. The statement here meant a formal establishment process from the HT’s point of view. Two years after this statement, HT made its voice heard through demonstrations held in Fatih Mosque after Juma prayer on Friday, September, 2nd in the same year. A group of 300-500 people came together, accompanied by takbirs, and on behalf of the group, Yilmaz Celik, the head of HT Turkey, made a speech. In this speech, it was emphasized that the caliphate should be reintroduced. When organizational forces of HT in Uzbekistan were compared to those of Turkey, it is seen that they remain relatively weak in Turkey. In the study, the main focus is on the reasons why HT was more active in Uzbekistan when compared to Turkey. In conclusion, the study suggests that the differences in the socio-political structures of these countries play a key role in the success and failure of HT movement in these countries. It is also argued that due to the religious policy implemented by the Soviet Government in Uzbekistan, a serious gap in the production and dissemination of religious knowledge was constituted, which enabled HT movement to be effective in this region. On the other hand, since religious services are managed from a single centre named Religious Affairs Administration and the production and dissemination of knowledge in theology is provided by a unique academic intelligentsia in Turkey and as the country has a tradition of having been governed by democracy for almost 100 years; HT remained weaker in Turkey.

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