The Intellectuals' Hearth (Turkish: Aydınlar Ocağı) is a conservative-Islamist think thank which has been instrumental in the formation of right-wing political movements in Turkey since its establishment in 1970.
[1] Immediately after the military coup of 27 May 1960 which ended the rule of Democrat Party a group of conservative academics and thinkers, including Süleyman Yalçın, Arif Nihat Asya, Kemal Ilıcak, Tarık Buğra and Ali Fuat Başgil established an association called the Thinkers Club (Turkish: Aydınlar Kulübü) in 1961 of which ideology was a synthesis of Turkism and Islamism.
[3] Major members of the Club included İsmail Dayı, Ayhan Songar, Necmettin Erbakan and Agah Oktay Güner.
[7] Its name was suggested by the conservative thinker Necip Fazıl Kısakürek to emphasize the fact that intellectuals might also adopt right-wing views.
[4] The notable IH founders included İbrahim Kafesoğlu, Muharrem Ergin, Ahmet Kabaklı, Süleyman Yalçın, Nevzat Yalçıntaş, Kemalettin Erbakan, Ayhan Songar and Asım Taşer.
[15] Various media outlets, including Türkiye Gazetesi, TGRT TV and some radio channels, were also close to the IH in the late 1990s.
[19] The group argued that the major reason for the Turkey’s economic crisis experienced in the late 1970s was the dysfunctionality of the Turkish educational system.
[11] The Turkish–Islamic synthesis was also employed by the military government from 1980 to reestablish the social order of Turkish society which had been damaged during the terrorist activities in the 1970s.
[12][20] As a result, the synthesis was officially endorsed by the Atatürk Supreme Council on 20 June 1986 as the basis of the Turkish cultural activities.
[1] In the 1980s the influence of the IH was not limited to political area in that textbooks and educational programs were written and developed in parallel to the Turkish–Islamic synthesis.
[21] In addition, the IH members were appointed to various posts at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation and the Council of Higher Education.
[11] In 1998 Burak Arıkan likened the IH to the Nouvelle Droite which provided a right-wing ideology to the political groups in France.
[12] The group is also regarded as a tool of the Turkish state in the Cold War setting to reduce and ultimately, eliminate the potential effects of Communism in the country.