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The Change in Perception of Religion and Secularism in Turkey towards EU Accession
Abstract
Since Turkey’s application to the European Economic Community (EEC) for associate membership in July 1959, anything related to Europe, in general, and European Union (EU), in particular, has hit the Turkish daily agenda recurrently. According to many Turks, Turkey’s possible full EU membership sounds the crystallization of Turkish modernization, roots of which could be traced back to the early 19th century of the late Ottoman state, the sick man of Europe. Since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, modernization meant “secular” in rhetoric but faithfully “secularist” posture against Islamic/Islamist opposition -even anti-theist in some official discourses and policies. The end of the Cold War opened the Pandora’s Box unleashing the earlier heavily silenced religious, sectarian, ethnic and gendered identities as well as emerging supra/trans-national ones into the stage especially in Turkey. However, among these identities, Islam comparatively appeared more in the public sphere and produced itself as a “political language.” The EU has not only played a pivotal role in catalyzing the identity discussions with its regular reports and pressure on Turkey to harmonize its laws but it has also opened the path for Islamists to voice for their religious freedoms, such as appearing in the public and official sphere with religious attire especially for women as a matter of discussion in the last three decades. Moreover, the EU has affected the perception of religion not just for Muslims but also for non-Muslims who are essentially and judicially minorities in Turkey with reference to the Lausanne Treaty in 1924, despite Turkish state’s ironical insistence on secularism. The EU discussions also helped the Alawites to voice their sectarian identity, even their comprehension of Islam more heard by the Islamist political elite. If modernization means an essential change based on lessening bonds with the theological comprehension of the worldly politics, as much as they receive the governmental seats, Islamists have already given up their discourse of Islamic ummah (global and timeless imagined religious community) while transforming their energetic opposition towards the EU to zealous effort to membership. Thus, it is important to comprehend the EU’s role in gradual change in the perception of religion and secularism in Turkey. This paper will evaluate this change on tripod of Islam, non-Muslims and Alawites and question Turkish secularism how authentic or pseudo it is.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
Europe
Sub Area
Turkish Studies