RELIGION AND SECULARISM IN TURKEY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CAHİT TANYOL AND ŞERİF MARDİN’S APPROACHES

Anatolian geography, have a life intertwined with religion for thousands of years the region. The Göbeklitepe region in Şanlıurfa, which dates back 12 thousand years, has drawn the reflections of the belief of the god, religion and religious life for thousands of years. Republic of Turkey fully abolished the Caliphate or made Caliphate into the presence of The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) according to another view; but in the end there had been took steps that go beyond religious norms and created a secular Constitution. The “laicisim” principle, which became the constitutional material in 1937, became one of the main features of the state. Religion and secularism -that it has been applicated as laicisim in Turkey- are issues that need to be considered together. With the principle of laicism that is legal and structural separation of religion and state affairs, religion will move away from social and political life, will stay in conscience and had been thought that it will not be effective in public life. But this has not happened. After the Democratic Party came to power in 1950 with elections, religious values and approaches in society began to affect political life, and religion became more evident in social life. During Ottoman Empire’s last century, the laicization process in the state administration and the secularization process in the society had been started. This process was manifested as secularization -that it has been done with power of state- in the Republican period depending on the principle of laicism. Thus, Ottoman-Turkish modernization, which has been going on for more than a century, has moved to another stage. The founding will of the Republic and official-central ideology applied the principle of laicisim as project of modernization. For this reason, the laicisim that changed the state structure is political-legal. And secularization is a sociological concept which expresses the change of society in secular direction. Until to the 2010s in Turkey, laicisim; under political-social pressuring, Jacobin official-central oppressive politic ideology implementations and with legal punishments, had been applied. Of course, in this time secularization has been continiued. But this process is happening under oppressive of laicism. Justification of laicism at first, after religion become a legal part in order of laic and democratic, at last how religious life will be effect in communal living as expression, representation and application, has been discussed during the history of the Republic. The sociologist Cahit Tanyol (1914-…) and Şerif Mardin (1927-2017), both of whom worked extensively on these issues, put forward ideas on religion and laicisim (secularism) as fundamental, effective, determinative and mainstream expressions. A comparative study of Cahit Tanyol and Şerif Mardin’s approaches on this issue, gives the deep knowledge of the history of the Republic and present, also offer a meaningful perspective for the future.

Keywords

Religion, İslâm, Secularization, Secularism, Laicism, Sociology of Religion, Cahit Tanyol, Ş. Mardin