Theocracy, Secularism, and Islam in Turkey

Theocracy, Secularism, and Islam in Turkey PDF

Author: Christopher Houston

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-08-12

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 3030796574

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In this novel and lucid work, Christopher Houston clarifies a particular modern style and practice of politics that he calls anthropocracy. In the name of popular sovereignty, anthropocracies de-legitimize the rule of God(s) even as they re-deploy it to stabilize the rule of the representatives of the people, all the while obfuscating their political conscription of the divine. In distinguishing anthropocracy from varieties of other secular and laicist political arrangements, as well as from theocracy, this book also gives readers a brilliant solution to what it calls the Turkish puzzle, the dilemma over how to best describe and analyze state-religion and state-society relations in the Turkish Republic. This work convincingly undermines two orthodox presumptions about Turkish politics: the claim that Turkish modernity should be considered an example of secularity; and the accusation that the current AKP government should be interpreted as Islamic. On the contrary, it argues that both Kemalism and the AKP continue to institute an anthropocratic Republic.

Secularism and Muslim Democracy in Turkey

Secularism and Muslim Democracy in Turkey PDF

Author: M. Hakan Yavuz

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-02-19

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0521888786

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The Islamist Justice and Development Party swept to power in Turkey in 2002. Since then it has shied away from a hard-line ideological stance in favour of a more conservative and democratic approach. This book asks whether it is possible for a political party with deeply religious ideology to liberalise and entertain democracy?

Secularism and Revivalism in Turkey

Secularism and Revivalism in Turkey PDF

Author: Andrew Davison

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1998-01-01

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780300069365

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In this new interpretation of the modernisation & secularization of Turkey, Andrew Davison demonstrates the usefulness of hermeneutics in political analysis, illuminating the complex relations between religion & politics in post-Ottoman Turkey.

Secularism and State Religion in Modern Turkey

Secularism and State Religion in Modern Turkey PDF

Author: Emir Kaya

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-05-30

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1786732297

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The Diyanet, the official face of Islam in Turkey, is the `Presidency of Religious Affairs', a governmental department established in 1924 after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of Caliphate. In this book, Emir Kaya offers an in-depth multidisciplinary analysis of this vital institution. Focusing on the role of the Diyanet in society, Kaya explores the balance the institution has to strike between the Muslim traditions of the Turkish population and the secular creed of the Turkish state. By examining the various laws that either bolstered or hindered the Diyanet's budgets and activities, Kaya highlights the institutional mindsets of the Diyanet membership. He also evaluates its successes and failures as a state department that must consistently operate within the context of the religiosity of Turkish society. By situating all of this within the two competing - but often complimentary - concepts of religion and secularism, Kaya offers a book that is important for those researching the interplay of Islam and the state in Turkey and beyond.

Islam, Secularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey

Islam, Secularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey PDF

Author: Soner Cagaptay

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-05-02

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 1134174470

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It is commonly believed that during the interwar period, Kemalist secularism successfully eliminated religion from the public sphere in Turkey, leaving Turkish national identity devoid of religious content. However, through its examination of the impact of the Ottoman millet system on Turkish and Balkan nationalisms, this book presents a different view point. Cagaptay demonstrates that the legacy of the Ottomon millet system which divided the Ottoman population into religious compartments called millets, shaped Turkey’s understanding of nationalism in the interwar period. Providing a compelling examination of why and how religion shapes national identity in Turkey and the Balkans the book covers topics including: * Turkish nationalism * the Ottoman legacy * Kemalist citizenship policies and immigration * Kurds, Muslims and Jews and the ethno-religious limits of Turkishness. Incorporating documents from untapped Turkish archives, this book is essential reading for scholars and students with research interests in Turkey, Turkish nationalism and Middle East history.

The Veiling Issue, Official Secularism and Popular Islam in Modern Turkey

The Veiling Issue, Official Secularism and Popular Islam in Modern Turkey PDF

Author: Elisabeth Ozdalga

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 1136108742

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In the Turkish elections of December 1995, the Islamic Welfare Party became the biggest Party in parliament and for the first time in history, an Islamic party had come to power by means of free elections. The rise to power of the Turkish Islamists is a result of several decades of revivalism. In this process the veil has been a prominent symbol of the new religious puritanism, causing resentment among those who regard the bare-headed woman as the symbol of progress and emancipation. In the light of a century-long conflict between secularism and popular Islam, the present study describes the conflict over the veil as it became a burning issue in the decade following the military intervention of 1980 and remains to this day a matter of controversy. While focusing on the issue of veiling, the author also considers the wider picture of tension between official secularism and popular Islam in present-day Turkey. Although this tension is not discounted, the author argues that the fact that the Islamic movement is on the rise does not mean that it threatens the very foundations of modern Turkish society. Whereas the controversies of the nineteenth century could be described as a 'clash of civilizations' (between Islam and the West), those of today have shrunk into conflicts over certain cultural symbols that are part of the same globally-expanding technological civilization.

The Transformational Process of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey

The Transformational Process of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey PDF

Author: Emine Enise Yakar

Publisher: King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies

Published: 2017-06-01

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 6038206302

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This article focuses on the historically complex relations between the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and the Turkish state. It asserts that the Diyanet, from its establishment in 1924 to the present time, has experienced transformation from a strictly state-controlled institution to a more autonomous one. This transformational process transpired, sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly, within the borders of the secular state. In exploring this process, the article analyzes the ways in which the institution’s position has gradually risen within the state’s constitution and how its religious discourses, statements, and activities have changed from nationalistic to holistic.

Political Islam and the Secular State in Turkey

Political Islam and the Secular State in Turkey PDF

Author: Evangelia Axiarlis

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-06-20

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0857737988

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How safe is Turkey's liberal democracy? The rise to power in 2002 of the right-leaning Islamic Justice and Development Party ignited fears in the West that Turkey could no longer be relied upon to provide a buffer against the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East. Once hailed by the West as a model of secularism and moderation in the Muslim world, Turkey is now seen to be under the influence of the 'creeping Islamisation' of the JDP (or AKP as it is known in Turkey). Yet to what extent has this affected the lives of Turkish citizens? Evangelia Axiarlis here explores the contribution of the JDP to civil liberties and basic freedoms, long suppressed by secular and statist Kemalist ideology, and how this has remained unexamined despite more than a decade in government. In this - the first detailed study of the policies and ideology of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's government - the author examines the extent to which the JDP has worked to improve civil life in Turkey and critically addresses whether a government built on Islamic principles can champion political reform. Exploring how Islam and democracy are neither monoliths nor mutually exclusive, this is a timely contribution to the wider understanding of political Islam.

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