New Turkey and Management of the Religious Realm: Continuities and Ruptures

Abstract

This article analyses the relationship between religion and the state in the AKP era and discusses whether AKP policies represent a rupture with the republican era or a continuity. The AKP developed a multi-faceted and comprehensive policy for controlling the religious realm in Turkey. Employing the Diyanet as the true representative of Islam and forging alliances with cemaats have strong historical precedents, yet the amount of resources the AKP invested are significantly greater. Moreover, it is not only that AKP devoted more resources to the religious field (quantitative change), but also that it did this in novel ways (that amount to a qualitative change). First, these institutions are not being developed as alternatives to each other but as parts or layers of a more complementary strategy. Second, these various institutions and communities are merging with the AKP and losing their autonomy. By co-opting all these institutions and organisations, Erdoğan controls most of the religious realm in Turkey. If one of the unique dimensions of Turkish secularism is the state’s desire to maintain control over all religious activity, ironically, it is Erdoğan who has come closest to achieve this.

Keywords

• AKP
• Islam
• Diyanet
• cemaat
• değerler eğitimi