Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The modern-day Turkish Republic was built upon the ashes of the old Ottoman Empire. In order to create a completely new and more powerful entity, those who formed the Republic discarded the earlier structure wherein religion was an integral part of the state and adopted instead a secular model. Kazamias summarizes what the founders of Turkey did to create a secular state: In 1923 the Ministry of Education took over the administration and control of all religious schools and all their means of support. In the same year, the teaching of religion was proscribed in all state schools. The abolition of the caliphate in 1924 was followed by the closing of all medreses and other separate religious schools, by the elimination of the august office of şeyhülislam , and by the replacement of the Ministry of Religious Law with a Presidency of Religious Affairs under the prime minister. In 1928, Article 2 of the first Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, which had made Islam the state religion, was amended, providing for disestablishment; and in 1937 the principle of secularism was incorporated in the Constitution. In the meantime, jurisdiction of the courts of the şeriat had been taken over by lay, Western-modeled courts, and a Turkish Civil Code, a virtual replica of the Swiss Civil Code, had replaced the orthodox private Mohammedan laws. By 1930, what few secondary schools for religious ... log in or subscribe to read full text