Abstract
Since the declaration of the Tanzimat Edict in 1839, Türkiye has turned its face to Europe and initiated a change and transformation within the European modernization paradigm which started a war against clericalism after the sixteenth century. Reforms in education, law, administrative structure, and legal legislation have generally developed based on Western values originating from Europe. This, indeed, enabled the development and expansion of the secular sphere, while reducing the effectiveness of religion in the public domain. During the Republican period, policies in this direction were taken one step further and the effect of religion in the public and social life was limited. Although religious freedom and education have been allowed with the transition to a multi-party system in 1950, the official ideology remains within the same paradigm. This paper analyzes the attitude of Turkish society, which has two hundred years of modernization/Westernization experience, towards religious values, based on public surveys conducted by Areda Survey. Areda Survey has been examining the attitude of the Turkish society towards religious values every year in its surveys conducted since 2021. The study, thus, tries to understand to what extent the modernization/Westernization project has impacted the attitudes toward religious values in Turkish society.
Presenters
Omer CahaTeaching, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Istanbul Ticaret University, Turkey
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Modernization, Westernization, French Revolution, Secularism, Religion, Rationalization
