In 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk overthrew the Khalifa to establish secular rule, a new Turkey was born. Overthrowing all its previous allegations as the ‘sick man of Europe’, secular turkey was different from what it was under six hundred years of Ottoman Turk rule. However, elements of reform did not reach every citizen of Turkey and modern day Turkey was dichotomized into two distinct classes – the secular educated largely urban upper class with European lifestyle and the religious, illiterate or semiliterate, largely rural impoverished class with an Islamic lifestyle.

In the initial decades of secular rule, the secular upper class carried an indifferent, if not a somewhat contemptuous attitude against the devout Muslims. It was not long that the religious Turks, the underclass of the Turkish society realized that to save themselves from poverty and gain political and social influence the only solution lay in achieving ‘secular’ education apart from religious education. With the passage of time, religious Turks have become educated with better financial standing and are occupying the urban space with the secular Turks.

The rise of religious Turks is seen as a threat to the secular urban class. Islamic Turks now are increasing their hold on the political arena. The once ban on wearing head scarves at universities have been repealed by the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The repeal of the headscarves ban is now awaiting an official signature before it is finally implemented. Secular Turks see this as a covert way of ‘Islamization’ of the Turkish society. Turkey despite of its secular dispositions had always maintained a somewhat distinct Ottoman identity. This is more clear from the fact that despite of facing the danger of losing the Ottoman economy to the onslaught of the European capitalist world order, Turkey has been able to maintain its Ottoman manufacture by adapting itself to cost control, use of imported commodities and products and exploitation of its niche markets.

Devout religious sentiments were always present as an undercurrent in the Turkish society. Contrary to the fears of the secular Turks, Turkey while trying to consolidate its position among members of the European Union might not take the risk of imposition of Shariat rule in the country. As for denying women in headscarves entry into universities by secularists, it seems to be another form of fundamentalism or adherence to blind western belief of discarding everything representing Islamic culture.

Via: IHT184547