“WE GAVE you new hospitals, we gave you proper schools,” roars the mayor of Kayseri, Mehmet Ozhaseki. Veiled housewives chant back, “Kayseri is proud of you,” as the mayor boasts of the achievements of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party at an election rally in the city’s Eskisehir district. Eskisehir was a slum full of squatters and open sewers until Mr Ozhaseki, a local businessman, was elected mayor in 1999. Now its pristine streets are lined with two-storey houses built on land given by AK. Mr Ozhaseki is also restoring an ancient Armenian church. “Kayseri is very nationalist, I am getting criticised for this,” he confides.Sitting next to one of Turkey’s highest mountains, Mount Erciyes, Kayseri was once home to thousands of Greeks and Armenians until they were driven out or slaughtered a century ago. Their once grand mansions stand derelict, the basements dotted with gaping holes where looters tunnelled to look for gold. But today Kayseri symbolises the “new Islam” ushered in by AK when it came to power in 2002. This mix of piety and entrepreneurship has produced a class of so called “Islamic Calvinists” who have popularised such things as Turkish jeans and furniture across the world. Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president and a co-founder of AK, is Kayseri’s most famous son.Mr Ozhaseki, who was elected with 60% of the vote in 2009, ought to be a shoo-in for a...
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