Secularism, any movement in society directed away from otherworldliness to life on earth. Turkey, secularism and religion geopolitical futures. Export a ris file for endnote, procite, reference manager, zotero, mendeley export a text file for bibtex note. The concept of laicism laiklik became in the 20th century one of the main principles of kemalism as well as the constitutional system of turkey. The party is considered by some to be islamist, accusations the party itself strongly denies. In turkey, they are inextricably tied to the creation of the countrys system of secular public instruction in the 1920s and the transition to multiparty government in the 1940s. Joseph daher takes a critical look at recent efforts to discredit the contribution of syrian secularists to the 2011 revolution and offers historic perspective on the meaning of secularism and how the concept has been used and misused in the battle to shape. Massive uproar in turkey over the governments role in religious education shows that despite fears the nation is on the verge of abandoning its secular past, a version of secularism has. Democracy, islam and secularism in turkey middle east. Democracy, islam, and secularism in turkey on jstor. This otherness of religion, in general, and islam, in particular constitutes the meaning and role of the secular in turkey.
Law number 789 issued on 22 march 1926 formalised the secular education system, based upon the principles of the republic. Turkey is a muslimmajority country that is also a secular democratic state, a member of nato, a candidate for membership in the european union, a longstanding u. On the other hand, all kinds of anxieties and doubts beset secularism in india. By and large, from the 18th century to the 20th modernization movement in turkey faced this kind of challenges by clergy. This intent for secular personal laws has been unsettling especially to indian muslims, states smith, in part because they view the alteration of muslim personal law to be a grave violation of their freedom of religion. Even now, berkes offers much that is new and critical to our understanding of modern turkey. Hakan yavuz, a premier scholar of turkey, negotiates this ambiva. The foundations for its secularism were laid in the first decade following the establish ment of the turkish. If secularism has its relevance only in context, then it is natural and right to think that it will appear in different forms and guises in different contexts. In turkey, the choice of secularism cannot simply be summed up as a confrontation between authoritarian secularists bullying democracy and islamists using democracy to undermine secularism. Examining turkeys transformation toward a secular state, it traces the complex relationship between technical and economic changes, as well as the political and. Conservative democracy and the future of turkish secularism.
Even during the protestant reformation, the governing principle was cujus region, ejus religio whatever the religion of the ruler that would be. Secularism was first introduced with the 1928 amendment of the constitution of 1924, which removed the provision declaring that the religion of the state is islam, and with the later reforms of turkeys first president mustafa kemal ataturk, which set the administrative and political requirements to create a modern, democratic, secular state, aligned with kemalism. This discourse of secularism, even more than the real acts. Berkes, niyazi, the development of secularism in turkey london. Turkey is not the only region dealing with the struggle between the rule of secularism and the claims of religion. The new order and its fall the breakthrough 182678. True, a significant faction of the military tried to engineer a coup and to remove erdogan from power. Islam, secularism, and nationalism in modern turkey.
The blurry line between religion and secularism in turkey. This law, along with a range of other measures, sets current. Turkey s conservative trend began as a direct response to the challenge posed by the declaration of a new philosophy for the state with the founding of the republic. Examining the transformation of turkey from a traditional to a secular state, this text covers such topics as. Being an ancient belief of some ancient greek and roman philosophers like marcus aurelius it has developed and. The development of secularism in turkey ebook, 1998. Secularism in turkey historical and contemporary perspectives ecpr general conference prague, 710 september 2016 this text is a draft. Since then it has shied away from a hardline ideological stance in favor of a more conservative and democratic approach. Turkey s long experiment with secularism dates back to the last years of the ottoman empire.
Secularism in turkey defines the relationship between religion and state in the country of. The secular regime, under the leadership of kemal ataturk intended to build turkey on the basis of secularism as well as western ideologies away. Download pdf the development of secularism in turkey. Virtually everyone to the left of goldwater becomes the.
The development of secularism in turkey 1st edition. Secularism, religion, and moral progress catholic moral. The making of the justice and development party routledge studies in middle eastern politics, london and new york. In addition, the military, the supposed bastion of strict secularism in turkey, mostly sat on the sidelines during the coup attempt. Second, this conclusion sheds light on the struggle that is taking place in the wider muslim world between religion and secularism. Secularism in turkey historical and contemporary perspectives. Stepan and kurus discussion leaves the reader uncertain about the role of important actors such as the directorate of religious affairs diyanet. Secularists, secularism and the syrian uprising part 12. Democracy, islam, and secularism in turkey book description. Turkeyoftenpresentsitself,andisoftenhailedbyitsallies,asbeinga positive example of secular democracy for muslim countries to emulate. A deeper look into the history of turkey reveals that, unfortunately, turkey has never been either truly secular or democratic.
Such movements were exhibited during the renaissance in the development of humanism and in the later 20th century in the emphasis of some theologians on promoting christian values in the everyday world. Berkes is superior to all others because he alone examines the complex relationship between economic and technical change, and political and religious developments in the transformation of turkey from a traditional to a secular state. Europe and the united states are also facing this issue. The turkish intelli gentsia led by ataturk sought secularism as a modernizing principle. Secularism and muslim democracy in turkey in 2002 the islamist justice and development party akp swept to power in turkey. Muslim voices of reform the issue of islam and secularism represents one of the most contested debates in contemporary scholarship and policy circles. He is certainly right that secularism, using casanova and taylors explanation of it, has led to the development of moral values that have made the world a better place, but, as the example of antislavery abolitionism shows, it has often been religious people who have most ardently championed those values. Secularism in turkey defines the relationship between religion and state in the country of turkey. Developed from the conservative tradition of turkey s ottoman past and its islamic identity, the party is the largest in turkey. An increasing number of muslim scholars in recent years have utilized rigorous. But i write down these opening features of secularism at the outset because they seem to me to be invariant among the different forms that secularism may take in different contexts. Please, do not quote or cite without the authors permission.
Mustafa kemal ataturk who is recalled as the father of the nation was responsible for the establishment of. The government of recep tayyip erdogan and the justice and development party. Secularism is the separation of state and religion. Concept, scope and its importance 34 and embitter the religious conflicts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries11. Islam has been a religion that interferes with every aspects of life, every social institution so that it was necessary to separate religion and social institutions secularism. Syrian secularists, and moreover the concept of secularism, are under attack online and on the ground. It is the exclusion or rejection of religion from political or civil affairs of the state. While turkey has grown as a world power, promoting the image of a progressive and stable nation, several choices in policy have strained its relationship with the east and the west.
At the same time that the religious increase their assertiveness, secularists become. As an oilimporting, middleincome economy, turkey experienced a series of external shocks after 1973. This edited book is a promising attempt to provide guidance for assessing the place of the justice and development party adalet ve kalk. The authors conceptualization of secularism, therefore, is closer to the definition of rationalization or modernization than irreligion. Secularism and state policies toward religion is a very wellwritten, wellorganized, wellargued and easytoread book on an important and difficult topic. An overview this monograph is an analysis of the interactions between external debt and internal adjustment in turkey since the early 1970s. The development of secularism in turkey by niyazi berkes. Turkey under the rule of the justice and development party akp can be considered as an example of postsecularism. In turkey, freedom of conscience and religion is respected but. On the one hand, almost every politician swears by it.
401 879 1361 1207 1204 1315 1427 1480 1196 864 940 6 104 733 917 34 389 828 1008 1183 1592 1234 1267 1421 1265 1638 382 881 1123 783 871 427 625 159 273 1456 1241 920 578 217 525