I wasn’t aware of how big and influential are the Naqshband in Turkey. Note that even Necmettin Erbakan is a disciple of a major Naqshi shaykh as mentioned below:
The third big Naqshi group is led by Mahmud Es’ad Cosan (pronounced Djoshaan). He is a former Professor of Literature at Ankara University, and wrote his doctorate on Haji Bektashi Veli. His murids are mainly students or professional academics. Many of his articles of his have been translated into English (you can find them at The Australian Kotku Federation and also at Commentaries by M. E. Cosan, as well as a few here or here).
They seem to comprehend the Naqshbandiyya way in a very sophisticated and beautiful way. They carry on the classical Sufi tradition of this silsila and organize many (tens of thousands of murids, men and women) seekers and still they are very “modern” in their approach: printing books, having schools, camps, three or four big magazines (Islam, Kadin ve Aile, Ilm ve Sanat etc.), radio channel (called Akra), influencing political life, have large companies, organizing events and conferences, and so on. Their centre is at Iskanderpasha mosque in Fatih district in Istanbul. They have murids in Australia, Germany, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, US and other places in the West and a wide network (mainly amongst Turks) around the globe.
They carry on the classical silsila from Shaykh Gumushanevi, a big religious leader at the end of the Ottoman era, who led the main tekke (lodge) of Istanbul at that time. And the previous shaykh of this tariqa (before Mahmud Es’ad) was Mehmet Zahid Kotku (d.1980). He was close to what one could call a “grandshaykh” in Turkey because of his influence. Many of the leading politicians in Turkey of today: Necmettin Erbakan, Hasan Aksay, Fehmi Adak, Korkut Ozal and the now dead Turgut Ozal were all his disciples. At that time in the seventies and eighties the Naqshbandi movement and the political Islamist movement was one and the same. Later on the Naqshis separated from party politics. But still most Naqshi groups have a huge influence on Turkish politics.
Some analysts have compared Shaykh Es’ads tariqa to The Muslim Brotherhood movement. And they have similarities: they both have a holistic comprehension of Islam, a broad movement of dedicated men and women, work with mass media and are very popular. Hassan al-Banna, the founder of The Brotherhood had actually his background in the Husafiyya tariqa in Egypt, and formed the Brotherhood movement after a classical tariqa structure. The Brotherhood also have a daily wird to recite “the Mathoraat” (mainly taken from the Sufi Imam Nawawi’s book on dhikr “Kitab al-Adhkaar”). But the Turkish Naqshi movement is more milder whereas the brotherhood today has lost much of it’s spiritual strength, and has become too involved in power politics.
Full article is here