Developments in Turkey's geographic, political and economic core reflect the country's changing policies

TURKEY:Kayseri, in central Turkey, is Abdullah Gul's birthplace. But it is also famous for the industrialists who have made it one of the richest places in the country

Kayseri is like the rest of Turkey only more so; more prosperous, more pious, more strongly behind the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

Smack in the middle of Turkey, 900km (559 miles) from the Aegean and 900km from the Iranian border, Kayseri is surrounded by the dun-coloured steppes of Anatolia.

Snow-capped Mount Erciyes, an extinct volcano, the mayor's aggressive tree-planting programme and a handful of ancient ruins provide the only visual relief from the industrial smog and ugly high-rises that characterise the city.

You wouldn't know it, but central Kayseri is among the richest areas of Turkey in per capita income. Its people have never flaunted their wealth. There are 900 mosques, but fewer than 10 cinemas for one million people. Out of piety or for prestige, businessmen contribute massively to hospitals, schools and universities. When they want to drink or womanise, they drive to nearby Cappadocia.

In recent years two cliches and a native son made Kayseri famous. The native son is Turkish president Abdullah Gul, elected by parliament in August. As foreign minister, Gul spearheaded Turkey's drive to join the EU. A co-founder of AK, he says 10 years with the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia taught him "the weaknesses of . . . the East in general". Like prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he was an Islamist who decided that western-style democracy was best for Turkey.

The cliches are "Anatolian Tigers" - Turkish industrialists who have made central Anatolia wealthy - and "Islamic Calvinism", the term coined by a European Stability Initiative report two years ago to describe the ascetic, work-hard, do-good lifestyle of Kayserians. The city's residents like being called tigers; they are far less enthusiastic about "Islamic", and downright hostile to "Calvinism".

Until 15 years ago, 75 per cent of Kayseri's industry was state-owned, says Mustafa Boydak, the chairman of the chamber of industry. Today, 85 per cent of local industry is privately owned. Kayseri produces 20 per cent of the country's furniture and 10 per cent of its textiles and metal.

Boydak's father, an apprentice carpenter with only one year of primary school education, co-founded Boydak Holdings, which today owns 25 companies that export to 70 countries, with a $2 billion (€1.4 billion) annual turnover.

Like everyone I interviewed, Boydak disliked the "Islamic Calvinist" label. "Our success is the result of hard work," he says. "If you say religion leads to success, this is wrong. We believe that working is like praying, but it is different."

At the foot of Mount Erciyes, the Kayseri Industrial Area covers 24 million square metres and comprises 715 factories that employ 40,000 people. Three years ago, the zone entered the Guinness Book of World Records when it inaugurated 139 factories in one day.

The industrial zone exported $1.2 billion in the first 10 months of this year, says Ahmet Hasyuncu, its chairman and the owner of Besler textiles.

Hasyuncu traces Kayseri's work ethic to the 11th-century Selcuks. "Calvinism didn't start until the 15th century," he says. "We did not learn from the Calvinists; they learned from us - 300 years later."

Necmettin Nursacan, the retired mufti (religious leader) of Kayseri, was visiting Hasyuncu's office. The two laughed when I asked whether workers in the industrial zone pray five times a day at the splendid mosque the factory owners built for them.

"They go only on Fridays - like Europeans go to church on Sunday," Hasyuncu says.

"European people have lost faith, spirituality, but we still have it," Nursacan adds.

In Kayseri, politicians too are rooted in commerce. Mehmet Ozhaseki has been mayor since 1994. As a boy, he worked in the family fabric shop after school. The shop burgeoned into Haseki Textiles, owned by Ozhaseki's father and brothers.

Now Ozhaseki uses business acumen to fund a $2 billion municipal building programme that includes a light railway system, ski centre, sports stadium and 800km (497 miles) of irrigation. "We don't need money from outside. I will pay it all and have money left over," he boasts.

A close friend of Gul, with 73 per cent of the vote in the last municipal election, Ozhaseki was the most popular mayor in Turkey. Before he helped found AK in 2001, Ozhaseki stood as mayor for the Islamist Welfare Party and its successor, Virtue.

But AK (which means "white") is no longer an Islamist party. What changed? The difference, says Ozhaseki, is that the late Necmettin Erbakan, founder of Welfare and Virtue, wanted to Islamicise society; AK does not.

Ozhaseki's pet dream is to create a place for painters and cafes within the walls of Kayseri's ancient castle, like in Montmartre. "I want to live in a modern city with all the amenities," he says. "But I have values I don't want to lose. European youths do not respect their parents, and their family life collapses. I don't want the institution of marriage to be lost."

In the July general election, AK won 65.6 per cent of the vote in Kayseri, compared with 47 per cent nationwide. Mahmut Cabut, the president of the Kayseri branch, says he hopes to have time to build two factories now.

"We are not an Islamic party," Cabut insists. "We are living Islam. Islam has some rules, like being trustworthy. But in our political decisions, Islam is not a factor . . . Turkey is very different from other Islamic countries because we are secular."

Erdogan has called AK's philosophy "soft Islam". The party has won respect for its management of the economy and foreign policy, but not everyone believes its pledge to respect secularism.

This week, the Turkish supreme court chose a new chief justice, Hasan Kulic, considered an Islamist. "The wives of the president, prime minister and head of the supreme court all wear turban [ an Islamic scarf that covers the neck as well as the head]," notes Recep Bulut, the head of the Kayseri journalists' union.

"All foundations of the state are now held by proponents of 'soft Islam'. I worry that the gap between conservatives and the rest of society will widen. I hope our democratic structures will withstand this."