Secularism In Turkey

Introduction Since Turkey became a member of the European Union in 1999, there has been positive political reforms in the country. The rise to power of the Justice and Development party(AKP) in 2002 further brought positive changes to the political sphere. Especially the protection of human rights towards the minorities in the state. The government lifted the ban of the headscarf as they considered it as a violation of human rights. The AK party was established in the quest for new economic and social forces (Rabasa & Larrabee,2008, p. 52). Despite these political changes, the AKP government and some of its policies are biased and partial towards the religious minority called the Alevis. And this brings the question of: To what extent has

Hence, a state that is secular does not promote religion or interfere in religious matters. According to Cassanova, religion and politics are separate entities due to structural differentiation. Yet, there is diversity of secularism across countries that claim to be secular. Secularism is interpreted differently in countries due to the differences in their historical and constitutional background. Regardless of historical and constitutional background that affects the interpretation of secularism, the behavior of the society towards secularism in the state also matters. Hence the way the state interprets secularism and the behavior of the society towards secularism are important.
Turkey and Secularism According to secularization theory, the rise of modernization would lead to a decline of religion and loses its influence culturally and socially. However, this has not been the case in Turkey as religion is relevant in the social and political sphere as modernization progressed. Berger noted this is in his essay when he rejected the idea of the secularization theory. He

Although Turkey was founded based on the idea of a homogenous society, pluralism still was in existence. However, there are been controversies regarding secularism in Turkey. One of the main concerns of secularists is the establishment of Diyanet, which is a religious institution and this contradicts what secularism is ought to be (Ahmad, 2014, 40). It has also been noted that the Turkish state is involved with religious affairs through the financial support they offer religious groups especially the Sunni Muslims (Ahmad, 2014, p.40). When analyzing the relationship between religion and the state in Turkey, the historical background of the state is important as it serves as a guide in understanding the way Turkey is