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Introduction
\nModern Turkey \u2013 a member of NATO and a candidate for membership in the
\nEuropean Union – continues to struggle to find an appropriate balance between religion
\nand state. Turkey offers an excellent case study for those seeking answers to the following
\nquestions: Can Islam and democracy coexist? Is Turkey a secular state, is religion
\nseparated from the state in Turkey – as it is said in its Constitution: \u201cThe Turkish State is a
\nRepublic\u201d and is it \u201ca democratic, secular and social state governed by the rule of law …\u201d
\n(Article 1-2, Constitution of Turkey). Is everybody equal before the law in terms of access
\nto education and labor market, as it is said in the Constitution: \u201cAll individuals are equal
\nwithout any discrimination before the law, irrespective of language, race, color, sex,
\npolitical opinion, philosophical belief, religion and sect, or any such considerations?\u201d
\n(Article 10, Constitution of Turkey).
\nSince the establishment of the Republic in 1923, one of the most controversial
\nand debated issues in Turkey has been the question of religious education. The issue is
\nstill topical.
\nThe present paper considers teaching religion in Turkey in 3 chronological
\nperiods: from 1923 up to1982; from 1982 to 1995 and from 1995 to 2009. A historic
\nsurvey is also introduced.
\nHistoric Background
\nEach historical period has the education relevant to it. As a mirror, education
\nreflects all social changes. No essential changes are possible without deep changes in
\neducation. Traditional education – transmitted through generations – was spread for a
\nlong time in the early Turkish history.
\nTraditions were preserved and developed in the theocratic Ottoman Empire,
\nwhere Sultan was Caliph and united civic and spiritual powers.
\nThe Westernization and secularization processes among Turks started much
\nearlier than the Republic and Atat\u00fcrk’s time – it was as early as in the late medieval
\nOttoman State. First of all the process was revealed in education which was crucial for
\neconomic and social changes. The secularization of education was set up on agenda;
\nhowever the longstanding traditions of religious education were still very strong and
\nviable. (Ergene, 2006)
\nAccording to the order (firman) issued by Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839) in
\n1824 primary public (religious) education became obligatory. (Somel, 2001). The
\nimportance of the firman laid in the fact that the need for education and significant of
\nbeing literate were articulated for the first time by an Ottoman sultan. All Muslims had to
\nstudy their religion and after that the life affairs, – attested the document. By the same<\/p>\n
document nobody could study a vocation without passing religious education and
\nreceiving permission from the kadi (judge) of Istanbul.
\nBy the order of Sultan Abdul Medjid (1839-1861), who issued Tanzimat Firman
\n(1839), some changes were introduced in education:
\n1. Liquidation of illiteracy;
\n2. Education of all levels alongside with vocational education;
\n3. Education according to religion and world demands;
\n4. Opening of schools over the country.
\nThis firman appears as the first official document, which considered different
\nlevels of education as a whole, while emphasizing the necessity to expand public schools
\noutside Istanbul (Berker, 1945).
\nIn 1869, according to the Regulation of General Education the school system
\nwas to be graded. The system of education was organized into primary (sibyan schools
\nand rushdies), secondary (idadis and sultanis), and higher education (dar\u00fclf\u00fcnun). Article
\n27 of the Regulation declared the opening of women’s middle schools (inas rushdies)
\nwhile Article 9 made education in the Ottoman Empire compulsory. The document
\nstressed the promotion of secular knowledge, leaving religion to a secondary position,
\nand for the first time questioned the function of Sibyan schools as a necessary level of
\nreligious education. This regulation remained in force, with some modifications, until
\n1913 (\u00c7elenk, 2009).
\nIn 1913 \u201cTedrisat-i iptidaye kanun-i muvakkat-i\u201d (Provisional law of initial
\neducation) was set up. With different names, that law was in place for a long time.
\nPrimary education became obligatory. Junior (iptidaiyeler) and secondary (ru\u015ftyeler)
\nschools were united. New schools were opened. The duration of education in the new
\nschools was 6 years.
\nDuring the 19th century, since the 40s, there were several attempts to open a
\nuniversity. The university which was opened in 1874 seemed to be more viable. It had
\nthree graduations. However it was closed in 1880-81 by the Ministry of Education. In
\n1900, at 25th anniversary of Ascension of Abdul Hamid II Dar\u00fclf\u00fcn\u00fcn \u015eahane was opened
\nwith three faculties: 1. Literature; 2. Natural sciences; 3. Theology. Admission was
\nlimited: only 25-30 students were accepted. All was under governmental control. After
\noverthrowing in 1908 the limitation of the student number was removed and education
\nbecame free of charge. Later universities became more independent financially and
\nadministratively. There were already 5 faculties in Istanbul University. In 1914-1919
\nabout 20 German professors, associate professors, and assistants were invited, who
\nbrought technical equipment. After 1919 they were forced to leave Turkey. Science was
\nIBSUSJ 2011, 5(2) Page | 37
\nScientific Journal of International Black Sea University
\nalso incorporated into universities. Instead of classes semesters were set up; faculties
\nwere called. The females were accepted to universities starting in 1914. In 1917 females
\nwere accepted to the medical faculties. In 1918 groups at the universities were mixed:
\nmales and females studied together.
\nEducation in the Republic of Turkey
\nI period: 1923-1982
\na) mono-party politics
\nAfter the establishing of the Republic in 1923 Turkishness, as a top priority set
\nup on agenda, was viewed in Westernization, modernization, secularization and
\nalienation from the Islamic past and the rest of the Islamic world. In 1926 Kemalists
\nadopted the Gregorian calendar. Sunday was made a weekly holiday. In 1929 the
\nparliament passed a law introducing the new Turkish (Latin) alphabet. The \u201cNational
\nschools\u201d were opened to teach a new alphabet to adults. One of the first laws was the law
\nabout the unification of education – Tevhid-i Tedrisat, issued in 1924. Duality in the
\neducational system was suspended. The new law resolved unification of science and
\neducation, subordinated all educational institutions to the Ministry of Education (Maarif
\n\u2013i vekalet), the whole budget for education was assigned to the Ministry of Education.
\nAccording to the law issued on 3 March, 1924 madrasas (the total number 479)
\nwere closed. Religious courses were deleted from the curricula at high schools in 1924, at
\nmiddle schools in 1927, and from urban and rural primary schools and teacher training
\ncolleges in 1929 and 1930. Such a situation lasted till 1949. Instead of madrasas –
\nmektepe \u201cschool\u201d became a symbol of Republic. In May 1933 Dar-\u00fcl-F\u00fcn\u00fcn in Istanbul
\nwas closed and was converted into the Istanbul University (the Istanbul University was
\nopened). Attention was paid to the training of teachers; independence in administration
\nof education and science; increasing of the budget of the university.
\nWhen the Law of the Unification of Education was accepted, some people
\nadvocated that the Qur’anic courses had to be transferred to the Ministry of National
\nEducation. However, the first President of Religious Affairs, R\u0131fat B\u00f6rek\u00e7i, tried to open
\nnew Qur’anic Courses instead of Daru’l Kurra. On 2 April 1925 with the endeavors of Rifat
\nB\u00f6rek\u00e7i and upon the request of fifty deputies, the Turkish government allocated 50.00
\nTurkish Liras to the Qur’anic Courses for the aim of Qur’an memorization, \u201cHafiz-\u0131
\nQur’an\u201d. There were ten Qur’anic Courses between the years of 1925-1931, this number
\ndropped to nine in 1932-3 Later (1941-42), their numbers increased to 28. Here, the
\nimportant thing is not whether their numbers increased or decreased, but whether
\nQur’anic Courses existed or not. In the academic year of 1934-1935, records show that
\nonly one Qur’anic Course continued its educational activities. However, when the
\ndemocratic process began to appear, the numbers of the Qur’anic Courses began to
\nPage | 38 IBSUSJ 2011, 5(2)
\nGiuli ALASANIA & Nani GELOVANI
\nmeaningfully increase (Baltac\u0131, 1999).
\nThus CHP (Republican Popular Party in times of mono-party politics) allowed
\nreligious education out of schools, but under the state control. In 1928 the provision that
\nIslam was the religion of the state was deleted from the Constitution.
\nThe six principles or arrows of the party (Republicanism, Nationalism, Populism,
\nStatism, Secularism, Revolutionism\/Reformism) were adopted at the Third Party
\nCongress (1931) and later (1937) were placed in the Constitution, the amended Article 2
\nof which read: \u201cThe Turkish State is Republican, Nationalist, Populist, Statist, Secularist
\nand Revolutionary-Reformist.\u201d
\nThe most important – but at the same time vulnerable – was secularism in
\ngeneral and secularism in education which is still disputable. Some scholars think that the
\nsecularization process is not completed in Turkey. \u201cA country cannot really be called
\nsecular when it pays, every month, the salaries of 60000 imams and dictates the contents
\nof their weekly sermons at Friday prayers, sometimes down to the last word,\u201d (It is
\nnoteworthy that during the early years of the Republic this figure was around five
\nhundred) (Pope N., Pope H. 2004) that \u201cIslam is the most controversial issue to divide the
\nTurkish republic\u201cfrom 1923. On one side, there were educated people who accepted
\nsecular agenda, and on the other side, there were uneducated people who lived in
\nvillages and were believers.
\nMulti-party Politics
\nThe Situation changed in times of the multi-party system (Democrat Party in
\n1946, Nation Party in 1948, Freedom Party in 1955). The winner of 1950, 1954 elections
\n\u2013 DP (Democrat Party) abolished the law prohibiting the use of the Arabic form of the call
\nto prayer (azan); radio and television broadcasting on religious issues was allowed.
\nReligious instruction in the public schools was restored upon the written
\nrequest of parents. The status of the religion courses in public schools was
\nconstitutionally secured. The title of the course was \u201cThe culture of religion and
\nKnowledge of Ethics\u201d. After a long debate on the political level, religious education in
\npublic schools was introduced not only in primary schools (in 1949), but also in lower
\nsecondary schools (in 1956) on a voluntary basis. President In\u00f6n\u00fc’s Republican Party also
\nauthorized the creation of a Divinity Faculty (Theology) within Ankara University and the
\ntraining of imams (religious officials). The first Divinity Faculty in Turkey was established
\nwithin Ankara University on June 4, 1949. The aim of the Faculty was to conduct teaching
\nand research in the area of Islamic studies and religions in a scholarly way by making use
\nof the scientific methodologies.
\nDuring a parliamentary debate on 10 June 1949, Prime Minister G\u00fcnaltay, a
\nformer professor of Islamic theology, Republican People’s Party (RPP) chairman, angrily<\/p>\n
defended his party’s religious credentials, declaring: \u201cI am head of the government,
\nwhich inaugurated the teaching of religion in elementary schools. I am the head of the
\ngovernment, which inaugurated in this country \u0130mam Hatip courses, which teach
\nMuslims how to pray and how to wash the dead. I am head of the government, which
\nopened a Faculty of Theology\u201d (Jenkins, 2008).
\nOn 13, October, 1951 the government decided to open new religious schools.
\nThe first schools known as \u201cImam-Hatip Schools\u201d started to function in Ankara, Adana,
\nIstanbul, Isparta, Konya and Kayseri in 1951-52. The total number of students at these
\nschools was 876. Later, the number of students at these schools increased in parallel with
\nthe increasing number of schools. Imam-Hatip Schools were opened as a four-year
\nsecondary school, following a five-year primary school. Later, a three-year section for
\nhigh school was opened (Ocal, 2007). Some five thousand mosques were built between
\n1950 and 1960, approximately the same figure given by the National Ministry of
\nEducation for the construction of new public schools in the same period. With the coming
\nof Democratic Party in the year 1949-1950, this number of Qur’anic courses increased.
\nReligious publications reappeared. Religious associations prohibited in 1938, began to be
\nfounded.
\nThe socialist Mehmed Ali Aybar noted: \u201cThis party which has boasted so far
\nabout its revolutionism and secularism has found salvation by embracing religion at the
\nmost critical juncture of its life\u201d (Feroz, 2002). Menderes was even ready to restore
\nCaliphate, as he said in the Parliament. Nevertheless the country still was secular. The
\nuniversities were granted administrative autonomy. The press laws were liberalized.
\nHowever when the chief editor of the newspaper \u201cVatan\u201d (the supporter of
\nsecularism) was wounded, the government decided to forbid the interference of religion
\nin the state affairs and politics. In 1954 Nation Party was closed down for violating the
\nprinciples of secularism.<\/p>\n
Military Coups and Education
\nIn 1960, on May 27 military coup was carried out and Menderes government
\nwas overthrown. \u201cDesire to bring an end to the exploitation of religion for political and
\nprivate purposes\u201d couldn’t be carried out. The second clause of the Constitution adopted
\nin 1961 stated that \u201cNo person shall be allowed to exploit and abuse religion or religious
\nfeelings or sacred things in any manner whatsoever for the purposes of political or
\npersonal benefit or for gaining power, or even partially basing the fundamental social,
\neconomic, political and legal order of the state on religious ground\u201d. However just from
\n1961 the spread of Islam among the people started and some scholars consider that as
\nthe time as \u201cIslamic revival\u201d. Religious education was introduced in 1967 for upper
\nsecondary school still on a voluntary basis. Anyway Islamists started to establish parties
\nonly in the 70s.<\/p>\n
The Presidency of Religious Affairs was set up in 1925, which was never closed
\nand controlled religious education in Turkey.
\nAfter several changes in the Law (1935, 1939, 1950, 1955) concerning the status
\nof the Presidency of Religious Affairs, a new law, Article 633, was enacted relating to its
\nestablishment and duties on 22 June 1965. Item 7 of this new law gave the duty of
\nadministration and executive powers of the Qur’anic Courses to the Presidency of
\nReligious Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education. In order to
\nexecute its duties, the Presidency of Religious Affairs prepared \u201cSpecial Instructions for
\nthe Qur’anic Teaching Courses\u201d in 1965. When the Justice Party came to power in 1965,
\nthe number of the Qur’anic Courses began to increase very rapidly and reached 621 in
\n1966-67, 786 in 1971 when another military coup took place. The number of the Qur’anic
\nCourses continued to go up from that date. Their count became 1538 in the 1978-1979
\nacademic year (Kilavuz, 2009).
\nThe Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University has progressed several stages since
\nits establishment. The Faculty provided a four-year program until 1972-73. Between the
\nyears 1972 and 1982, a five-year program was adopted with the last two years for
\nspecialization in majors \u201cTafsir and Hadith\u201d and \u201cTheology and Philosophy.\u201d In 1971,
\nFaculty of Islamic Sciences, Istanbul Higher Islamic Institute was established by the
\nMinistry of National Education. Following it, other similar institutes were established in
\nKonya, Kayseri, Izmir, Erzurum, Bursa, Samsun, and Y\u00f6zgat (Yurdagul, 2007).<\/p>\n
As a rule Islamic organizations supported center-right parties. In October 1972
\nthe Islamists were allowed to form National Salvation Party (1972-81). The party’s goals
\nwere: compulsory secondary education, including of religion in curricula, restoration of
\nCaliphate. Their voters were lower-middle class. The party (National Salvation Party) was
\nagainst of the Common Market and exhorted for closer relations with Muslim countries.
\nThey believed that the Ottoman Empire was destroyed by Westernization process and
\nalienation from Islam. Regardless of their anti-secular agenda after the elections in 1973,
\nduring the 70s Islamic parties were frequently in coalition with secularists (Bullent Ejevit,
\nSuleiman Demirel). As a result Islamists were promoted to the high positions and number
\nof mosques, or Imam-Hatip schools, courses of Qur’an or related personnel increased.
\nTwo decisions of Education and Training have a positive effect on the future of
\nthe Imam-Hatip Schools. One decision (number 632, November 28, 1975) recognized the
\nImam-Hatip Schools’ equivalency to regular high school IHS diplomas since then having
\nread \u201cSenior High and the Imam-Hatip Schools. Consequently, IHS graduates became
\neligible for admission to national universities. The other decision (number 394, August
\n25, 1974) introduced Qur’an, Arabic language, and religion courses into the junior high
\ncurriculum. Thus, the IHS junior high division was reinstated and IHS education was once
\nagain a seven year program. In 1975, the course was extended to the third (last) grade of<\/p>\n
the high schools. Since 1975, the IHS graduates have successfully entered diverse majors
\nin the national universities: Theology, Education, Economics, and Public Administration,
\nEngineering, Medicine, Law and Political Sciences.
\nOnce again the military forces intervened in the processes in 1980, September
\n12. In fall, 1981 all political parties were closed down. In November, the Law on Higher
\nEducation was adopted. Its main aim was purges of the universities from the leftists and
\nnon-loyal elements.
\nII Period (1982-1995)
\nArticle 24 of the new Constitution (1982) made religious education compulsory<\/p>\n
in schools, thus deviated from the article 19 of the 1961 Constitution, according to which
\nreligious instruction was optional. Article 24 of the new Constitution said: \u201cEducation and
\ninstruction in religion and ethics (morals) shall be conducted under State supervision and
\ncontrol. Instruction in religious culture and moral education shall be compulsory in the
\ncurricula of primary and secondary schools. Other religious education and instruction
\nshall be subject to the individual’s own desire and the in case of minors, at the request of
\ntheir legal representatives\u201d. Thus, like other courses, two credit hours from the fourth to
\neighth grades and one credit course for high school students per week have become
\ncompulsory. Religion teachers taught most of those courses. The title of the course was,
\n\u201cThe Culture of Religion and Knowledge of Ethics\u201d.
\nThat step was made for de-politicizing of population. It was stuck in
\nconfrontation of left-right movements. The number of theocratic educational
\ninstitutions increased. 7 Imam-Hatib schools in 1951 multiplied to 384 in 1989. Natural
\nsciences were taught in a lyceum. But when lessons in English, History or Geography were
\nmissed, religion was taught instead. Imams and Hatips got a permission to continue
\neducation in universities.
\nBy the Law of Higher Educational Council, in 1982, Is 2, Islamic institutes were made
\nas parts of the universities, which were located in the same cities, as the respective
\nFaculties of Divinity. New Divinity Schools continued to be established under the
\nadministration of various universities. In the 1990s new faculties of theologies continued
\nto be opened and the number of these faculties reached 24.
\nAfter the military coup of 12 September 1980, the number of Qur’anic Courses increased regularly and reached 5241 in the academic year of 1996-1997. During this
\ntime, not only did the number of the Qur’anic Courses increase but also the students
\nattending them. In 1989, according to the University Exam Centre statistics, 22% of IHS
\n(Imam-Hatip schools) applicants were admitted to Universities. The ratio of admission
\nwas 22 % (21 male and female) compared with regular high school at 23% (excluding
\nprivate and special schools).<\/p>\n
Link : file:\/\/\/C:\/Users\/HP\/Downloads\/gbaghaturia,+Journal+manager,+004-Giuli_Alasania.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction Modern Turkey \u2013 a member of NATO and a candidate for membership in the European Union – continues to struggle to find an appropriate balance between religion and state. Turkey offers an excellent case study for those seeking answers to the following questions: Can Islam and democracy coexist? Is Turkey a secular state, is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion"],"yoast_head":"\n