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Does Secularism in Turkey Face a Serious Threat?
Abstract
Since 2002, the year the Justice and Development Party (JDP) formed a majority government in Turkey, the bulk of secularists in that country have felt that the country would soon be drifted toward a state based on Islam. The secularists in question are of the opinion that the JDP government has been engaged in dissimulation (takiyye) and, in the first opportune moment, it would attempt to Islamise the state. In a related manner, the secularists think that there has been a gradual increase in number of turbaned women and the latter would exercise a moral pressure on the the uncovered women and oblige the latter too to sport turbans. Thus it is presumed that the bulk of the people in Turkey long for a state based on Islam. The present article takes up the question of whether indeed a great majority of the people in Turkey are inclined toward a state based on Islam for they oppose the secular Republic, they have little or no tolerance toward the secularists, and thay insist that everybody in that country should practice and live Islam as they themselves do. The article draws upon findings from reliable nation-wide surveys conducted in Turkey since 1999.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
None