Based on the conceptualization of “moderation” as compromise with a country’s political center, this paper will show how the notion of moderate Islam changed in Turkey as political power shifted since the early 2000s. In early 2000s, a political party rooted in “moderate Islamism” came to power in Turkey: the Justice and Development Party (AKP). At that time, moderate Islamism was presented and perceived as compatible with modern society, secular state-friendly, but without ambitions for state-engineered reshaping of social and political order. As the AKP’s grip on power became consolidated and the party turned into a hegemonic party, however, moderate Islam increasingly became defined as a blueprint for state-led social engineering and recreation od modern Islamic society.