Civil society and education in Turkey: the relations between the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge and Imam Hatip Schools (1951-1976)

Abstract

Imam Hatip schools are among the educational institutions that have had a major impact on the social transformations in Turkey’s recent history. These institutions have played a major role in integrating the rural population to urban life and culture by providing access to education and integrating them into modern urban society. The critical role these ‘religious’ Imam Hatip schools have played could only have been realized with the social and financial support of civil society organizations. Organizations such as İlim Yayma Cemiyeti (Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge) (IYC) have contributed greatly to these schools’ ability to reach out to large masses and the continuation of education among lower income students. This article aims to reveal the relationship between Imam Hatip schools and civil society through the example of the Istanbul Imam Hatip School opened in 1951 and to discuss the impact of civil organizations on schooling in Turkish society. Furthermore, the study examines the role of IYC has had in the mental, physical, and outward transformation of the modern urban citizen. This article therefore argues Imam Hatip schools and the IYC to have played vital roles in modernizing Turkish society since the second half of the twentieth century. According to the research findings, the IYC’s contributions range from housing and providing clothing to educational materials, medical and hospital expenses, university preparation courses, and undergraduate scholarships. The IYC Archive’s decision records will be used for the first time in a study and constitute the main source upon which this research is based.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Ayla Kavalcı, ‘Cumhuriyet Dönemi Türk Milli Eğitim Tarihinde İlim Yayma Cemiyeti’nin Hizmetleri’ [The Services of The Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the History of the Turkish National History of Education] (unpublished MA thesis, Marmara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2007).

2 Kurtuluş Öztürk, ‘Eğitimde Sivil Toplumun Yeri ve İmam Hatipler: İlim Yayma Cemiyeti Örneği’ [The Place of Civil Society in Education and the Imam Hatips: The Case of The Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge], in Cengiz Yakıncı (ed.), Geleceğin İnşasında İmam Hatip Okulları [The Imam Hatip Schools in the Building of the Future] (Malatya: İnönü Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2017), II, pp.181–93.

3 Kübra Gülsoy, ‘Türkiye’deki İnanç Tabanlı Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları İlim Yayma Cemiyeti ve Hakyol Vakfı Örneği’ [Belief Based Civil Society Organizations in Turkey the Cases of The Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge and the True Path Foundation] (unpublished MA thesis, Marmara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2019).

4 Benjamin C. Fortna, Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

5 Maarif-i Umûmiye Nizamnâmesi [Regulation on the General Education] (Istanbul: Matbaa-i Âmire, 1869); Reşat Özalp, Milli Eğitimle İlgili Mevzuat (1967 – 1923) [Regulations regarding the National Education (1967-1923)] (Istanbul: Milli Eğitim Basımevi, 1982), pp.3–5.

6 Halis Ayhan, ‘XIX. Yüzyılda Osmanlı Devleti’nde Kurulan Cemiyyet-i İlmiyye’lerin Eğitim ve Öğretim Çalışmaları’ [The Educational and Teaching Activities of the Scientific Societies Founded in the Ottoman Empire in the Nineteenth Century], in Güler Eren (ed.), Osmanlı [Ottomans] (Ankara: Yeni Türkiye Yayınları, 1999), pp.261–66.

7 Fortna, p.129.

8 İsmail Hakkı [Baltacıoğlu], ‘Milli Talim ve Terbiye Islahatına Medhal’ [Introduction to the National Training and Education Reform], Milli Talim ve Terbiye Cemiyeti Mecmuası (MTTCM), Vol.2, (1333/1917), pp.17–18; M. Zekeriya [Sertel], ‘Milli Terbiye, Fenni Terbiye’ [The National Education, The Scientific Eduation], Muallim, Vol.15, (1333/1917), pp.534–37; Ziya Gökalp, ‘Milli Terbiye’ [The National Education], Muallim, Vol.1, (1332/1916), pp.3–9.

9 Arzu M. Demirkıran, ‘Modernleşme ve Tanzimat Dönemi Eğitimi’ [Modernization and Tanzimat Era Education], in Mustafa Gündüz (ed.), Kronolojik ve Tematik Türk Eğitim Tarihi [The Chronological and Thematical Turkish History of Education] (Istanbul: İdeal Kültür Yayınları, 2018), pp.57–86.

10 Evkaf Vekaleti, Medresetü’l Vaizin Nizamname ve Talimatnamesi [The Ministry of Foundations, the Guidebook and Regulation for Madrasa Preachers] (Istanbul: Matbaa-i Âmire, 1329/1913).

11 Asım Arı, ‘Tevhid-i Tedrisat ve Laik Eğitim’ [The Unity of Education and Secular Education], Gazi Üniversitesi Gazi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2.22 (2002), pp.181–92 (p.190).

12 Mustafa Öcal, İlk 7 İmam Hatip Okulunun 70 Yıllık Serüveni Öncü 7’ler [The Seventy-Year Story of the First Seven Imam Hatip Schools: The Pioneering Sevens], 8 vols (Ankara: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2021), I, p.17.

13 C.H.P. Yedinci Büyük Kurultayı [The Seventh Grand Congress of the Republican People’s Party] (Ankara: Ulus Basımevi, 1948), p.457.

14 Mustafa Öcal, İlk 7 İmam Hatip Okulunun 70 Yıllık Serüveni, I, pp.122-38.

15 M. Ertuğrul Düzdağ (ed.), Nahid Dinçer, 1913’ten Günümüze İmam-Hatip Okulları Meselesi [The Question of the Imam-Hatip Schools from 1913 to the Contemporary Era] (Istanbul: Şule Yayınları, 1998), p.32.

16 Tevfik İleri, ‘Önümüzdeki Yıllarda İmam-Hatip Okulunun Öğrenci ve Sınıf Durumu H[Akkında]’ [The Situation of Students and Classes in İmam-Hatip Schools in the Coming Years] (Milli Eğitim Bakanı, 1953). Please refer to this for the official document: Mustafa Öcal, İlk 7 İmam Hatip Okulunun 70 Yıllık Serüveni, V, p.58.

17 Mustafa Öcal, İlk 7 İmam Hatip Okulunun 70 Yıllık Serüveni, III, p.66.

18 Ibid., v, pp.60–61.

19 MEB, ‘İmam Hatip Lisesi İdari Yönetmeliği’ [The Administrative Regulation for the Imam-Hatip Schools], MEB Tebliğler Dergisi, 29 May 1972, section 35/1700, p.185.

20 Mustafa Öcal, ‘Dünden Bugüne İmam-Hatip Liseleri (1913-2013)’ [The Imam-Hatip Schools from Yesterday to Today (1913-2013)], in Recep Kaymakcan, Nuri Tınaz, Z. Şeyma Altın, Mahmut Zengin, Ahmet Yasin Okudan and Hulusi Yiğit (eds), 100. Yılında İmam-Hatip Liseleri Uluslararası Sempozyumu [The Imam-Hatip High Schools in their Centenary International Symposium] (Istanbul: DEM Yayınları, 2015), pp.65–104.

21 Zekai Baloğlu, Türkiye’de Eğitim Sorunlar ve Değişime Yapısal Uyumlar [Educational Problems and Structural Adaptations to Change in Turkey] (Istanbul: TÜSİAD, 1990), p.131.

22 TİSK, Türkiye’de Mesleki Eğitim [Vocational Education in Turkey] (Istanbul: TİSK, 1991).

23 TÜSİAD, Türkiye’de Demokratikleştirme Perspektifleri [Democratization Perspectives in Turkey] (Istanbul: TÜSİAD, 1997), p.113.

24 This concept of coefficients is special to the Turkish educational system. For a graduate of an Imam-Hatip school, the graduation grade was multiplied by 0.2 and added to the overall score. But for those who were not Imam Hatip graduates, the graduation grade was multiplied by 0.5 and added to the overall score. This discouraged many from attending Imam-Hatips as this rule made their graduates extremely disadvantaged in the university entrance exam and made their entrance into prestigious and high quality universities impossible.

25 Milli Eğitim İstatistikleri [The Statistics of National Education] (Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2013).

26 Mahfud Junaedı, ‘İmam Hatip School (Imam Hatip Lisesi): Islamic School in Contemporary Secular Turkey’, Analisa Journal of Social Science and Religion, 1.1 (2016), pp.121–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.18784/analisa.v1i1.219

27 TÜSİAD, p.113.

28 Kurtuluş Öztürk, ‘İmam Hatip Lisesi Öğrencilerinin İmam Hatip Tercih Nedenleri’ [The Imam Hatip High School Students’ Reasons for Preferring the Imam Hatip], Marmara Üniversitesi Atatürk Eğitim Fakültesi Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 57.57 (2023), pp.27–59.

29 ‘IYC [İlim Yayma Cemiyeti/The Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge] Archives, Decision Number: 417, 20 December 1962.

30 Ayşe Olgun, ‘Temelini Attık Ama Mezun Olamadım’, Yenişafak, 30 July 2023 https://www.yenisafak.com/hayat/temelini-attik-ama-mezun-olamadim-4549046

31 ‘Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Biyografi’, 2023. https://www.tccb.gov.tr/receptayyiperdogan/biyografi/ (accessed 11 December 2023).

32 İbrahim Aşlamacı, Öğrenci ve Öğretmenlerine Göre İmam-Hatip Liseleri Profiller, Algılar, Memnuniyet, Aidiyet [Imam-Hatip High Schools According to Students and Teachers: Profiles, Perceptions, Satisfaction, Belonging] (Istanbul: DEM Yayınları, 2017); Fatih Çınar, ‘İmam Hatip Liselerinden Beklentiler’, Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Vol.11.60 (2018), pp.1243–59.

33 Aşlamacı; Nuh Dağ, ‘Turkey’s Imam-Hatıp Schools: Threat To Secular Democracy Or Model Of Integratıon?’ (unpublished PhD diss., Florida State University College Of Education, 2018); İren Özgür, Islamic Schools in Modern Turkey: Faith, Politics, and Education (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012).

34 Sümeyye Ertekin Yıldız, Wonder 28 Şubat’ın Söndüremediği Yıldızlar [Wonder: the Stars that 28 February Could not Extinguish] (Istanbul: ÖNDER Yayınları, 2021); Gülşen Demirkol Özer, 28 Şubat Sürgünleri, 2nd edn (Istanbul: Ekin Yayınları, 2015).

35 Hasan Hikmet Demirbağ, ‘İçtimâiyyâtta Garpçılık ve Bozgunculuk: Asrî Terbiye-I’, Sebilürreşad, Vol.23.584 (1340/1924), pp.180–82.

36 Ömer Cemal Karabekir, Maçka Silâhhanesi Hatıraları – İstiklâl Harbi Kahramanları [The Maçka Armoury Memories - Heroes of the War of Independence] (Istanbul: Nehir Yayınları, 1991).

37 Mahir İz, ‘Merhum Seniyyüddin Başak’, Sebilürreşad, (May 1963), p.360.

38 A magazine published between 1908 and 1925, of which Mehmed Akif Ersoy was its editor-in-chief.

39 Nahid Dinçer, ‘Merhum Kurmay Binbaşı Vehbi Bilimer’in Tercümei Halidir’ [The Life Story of the Late Major Vehbi Bilimer], t.y., İlim Yayma Archives.

40 ‘IYC Mission and Vision’ https://iyc.org.tr/misyon-ve-vizyonumuz (accessed 10 November 2023).

41 Basic Law on National Education, 1739 (1973): https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin (accessed 20 November 2023). Although this law belongs to 1973, similar approaches are obvious in earlier official documents regarding education: Demokrat Parti: Tüzük ve Program [The Democrat Party: Charter and Programme] (Istanbul: Merkez Basımevi, 1946), p.10; II. Maarif Şurası, Hasan Ali Yücel’in Açış Konuşması, 15-21 Şubat 1943 [The Second Congress of Education: The Opening Speech of Hasan Ali Yücel, 15-21 February 1943] (Ankara: 1943), p.5.

42 İlim Yayma Cemiyeti, İlim Yayma Cemiyeti Beyannamesi [The Declaration of The Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge] (Istanbul: Berksoy Matbaası, 1952).

43 İlim Yayma Cemiyeti, İlim Yayma Cemiyeti’nin Sayın Vatandaşlara Mektubu [The Letter from the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge to Honorable Citizens] (Istanbul: Çeltük Matbaası, 1960).

44 Öztürk, II., pp.181–93. Religious sciences include study of Tafsir, Hadith and so on.

45 ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 12, 28 January 1952.

46 The Nuri Bey Mansion, located opposite the Vefa Bozacısı, is currently a university student dormitory belonging to the IYC.

47 ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 12, 28 January 1952.

48 Ibid., Decision Number: 15, 1 February 1952.

49 Ibid., Decision Number: 82, 29 September 1952.

50 Ibid., Decision Number: 86, 13 October 1952.

51 For 1952, see ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 97’, 22 December 1952, p.97; for 1953, see ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 134, 2 December 1953.

52 ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 149, 26 April 1954.

53 Ibid., Decision Number: 158, 27 September 1954.

54 Ibid., Decision Number: 150, 28 April 1954.

55 Ibid., Decision Number: 118, 4 April 1953.

56 Ibid., Decision Number: 107, 9 February 1953.

57 Ibid., Decision Number: 154, 14 June 1954.

58 Ibid., Decision Number: 147, 24 March 1954.

59 Ibid., Decision Number: 179, 30 March 1955.

60 Ibid., Decision Number: 199, 13 December 1956.

61 Ibid., Decision Number: 206, 22 October 1956.

62 Ibid., Decision Number: 180, 27 June 1955.

63 Ibid., Decision Number: 182, 5 September 1955.

64 Ibid., Decision Number: 186, 14 November 1955.

65 Ibid., Decision Number: 185, 24 October 1955.

66 Ibid., Decision Number: 201, 3 September 1956.

67 Ibid., Decision Number: 220, 26 September 1957.

68 Ibid., Decision Number: 406, 27 September 1962.

69 Ibid., Decision Number: 33, 21 March 1952.

70 Ibid., Decision Number: 292, 24 September 1959.

71 Ibid., Decision Number: 342, 2 February 1961.

72 Ibid., Decision Number: 354, 10 May 1961.

73 Ibid., Decision Number: 5, 3 January 1952.

74 Ibid., Decision Number: 5, 3 January 1952.

75 Ibid., Decision Number: 41, 17 December 1966; ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 43, 31 December 1966.

76 Ibid., Decision Number: 30, 6 October 1971.

77 Ibid., Decision Number: 27, 7 March 1952.

78 Ibid., Decision Number: 126, 28 September 1953.

79 Ibid., Decision Number: 50, 12 May 1952.

80 Ibid., Decision Number: 56, 6 June 1952.

81 Ibid., Decision Number: 33, 21 March 1952. Preventorium: An institution that provides care to prevent tuberculosis in weak people, whether or not they have yet been infected with the disease.

82 Ibid., Decision Number: 40, 28 April 1952.

83 Ibid., Decision Number: 149, 26 April 1954.

84 Ibid., Decision Number: 457, 24 October 1963.

85 Ibid., Decision Number: 57, 6 June 1952.

86 Ibid., Decision Number: 277, 22 June 1959.

87 Ibid., Decision Number: 10, 10 January 1952.

88 Ibid., Decision Number: 11, 1 February 1952.

89 Ibid., Decision Number: 184, 26 September 1955.

90 Ibid., Decision Number: 122, 22 June 1953.

91 Ibid., Decision Number: 18, 7 July 1971.

92 Ibid., Decision Number: 42, 14 December 1975.

93 Ibid., Decision Number: 417, 20 December 1963.

94 Ibid., Decision Number: 18, 7 July 1971.

95 Ibid., Decision Number: 463, 5 December 1963.

96 Ibid., Decision Number: 30, 6 October 1971.

97 Ibid., Decision Number: 28, 22 September 1971.

98 Ibid., Decision Number: 179, 30 March 1955.

99 Ibid., Decision Number: 186, 14 November 1955.

100 Ibid., Decision Number: 317, 22 June 1960.

101 Ibid., Decision Number: 85, 13 October 1952.

102 Ibid., Decision Number: 107, 9 February 1952.

103 Ibid., Decision Number: 131, 10 November 1953.

104 Ibid., Decision Number: 246, 12 March 1956.

105 Ibid., Decision Number: 183’, 19 September 1955.

106 Ibid., Decision Number: 248, 15 August 1958.

107 Ibid., Decision Number: 264, 26 February 1959.

108 Ibid., Decision Number: 416, 13 December 1962.

109 Ibid., Decision Number: 516, 3 December 1964.

110 Ibid., Decision Number: 37, 28 February 1963.

111 Ibid., Decision Number: 44, 5 May 1952.

112 Ibid., Decision Number: 148, 1 April 1954.

113 Ibid., Decision Number: 16, 1 February 1952.

114 Ibid., Decision Number: 122, 22 June 1953.

115 Ibid., Decision Number: 45, 30 December 1970.

116 Ibid., Decision Number: 2, 10 March 1965.

117 İlim Yayma Cemiyeti, Beyanname.

118 ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 30, 6 October 1971.

119 This brochure contains a list of Iftar meals printed by the IYC for the month of Ramadan between 14 December 1966 and 11 January 1967 (1 p.). It is available in the unclassified IYC Archive.

120 See also endnote 43.

121 ‘IYC Archives, Decision Number: 334, 7 December 1960.

122 Ibid., Decision Number: 342, 2 February 1961.

123 Öztürk, II, p.181.