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ABSTRACT
This article addresses the religious policies of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) targeted at promoting Islam among the Turkish Cypriot community. For the secular circles of the Turkish Cypriot community, the AKP’s imposed religious policies constitute a threat to its fundamental features and social fabric. Islamisation policies are regarded as cultural imperialism of the AKP government, with the aim of generating a religious youth, a conservative mentality, and more widespread religious practice in North Cyprus. Within this context, this article analyzes the historical account of the secularization experience of the Turkish Cypriot community, the politicization of religion with reference to education, and the penetration of AKP’s religious policies in North Cyprus.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Lüküslü, “Creating a pious generation.”
2 Latif, “Considering religious education.”
3 DPÖ (Devlet Planlama Örgütü/ State Planning Organization) 2011. Accessed April 3, 2020. http://www.devplan.org/Nufus-2011/Nufus-2011.html.
4 Jennings, Christians and Muslims.
5 Nevzat, Nationalism Amongst the Turks.
6 Beratlı, Kıbrıslı Türkler’in Tarihi, and Hatay, “‘Reluctant’ Muslims?”
7 Bouleti, “Early Years,” 76.
8 Nevzat and Hatay, “Politics, Society,” 913–5.
9 Hendrich, “Islamic Religious Education,” 13.
10 Atalay, Geçmişten Günümüze Kıbrıs, 96–7.
11 Hendrich, “Islamic Religious Education,” 12.
12 Michael, “Creating a New Identity,” 19.
13 Stubbs and Taşeli, “Newspapers, Nationalism and Empire.”
14 Beckingham, Islam and Turkish nationalism.
15 Dietzel and Makrides, “Ethno-Religious Coexistence,” 77.
16 Hendrich, “Islamic Religious Education,” 15.
17 Atalay, Geçmişten Günümüze Kıbrıs, 147.
18 Dayıoğlu and Hatay, Yearbook of Muslims, 2020, 186.
19 Seligman, Religious Education.
20 Taylor, A Secular Age.
21 Berger, The desecularization of the world.
22 Habermas, “Notes.”
23 Beckingham, Islam and Turkish nationalism, and Nevzat, Nationalism Amongst the Turks.
24 Yeşilada, “Islam and the Turkish Cypriots,” 54–5.
25 Yeşilada et al, “Religiosity and Social Values,” 21.
26 Vural and Rustemli, “Identity Fluctuations.”
27 Makriyianni et al. “History Teaching,” 120–2, and Latif, “Considering religious education.”
28 Hatay and Dayıoğlu, Yearbook of Muslims, 2020, 176.
29 “Alpay Raşit Adanır Kütüphanesi yenilendi,” Gundem Kibris, January 17, 2018.
30 Ergul Jorgensen and Latif, “Different than us?”
31 Hatay, “Beyond Numbers”.
32 Akçalı, “The ‘Other’ Cypriots,” 72–3.
33 Vural et al., “Politically Motivated Migration,” 88–9.
34 Ayberk et al., “Bir De Facto Devlet,” 141.
35 Navaro-Yashin, “De-ethnicizing,” 91–2.
36 Hatay and Bryant, “The jasmine scent.”
37 Arkonaç et al., “Güç İlişkileri İçinde Öznel Varoluşlar.”
38 Ramm, “Assessing Transnational,” and Hatay, “The problem of pigeons.”
39 Lacher and Kaymak, “Transforming Identities,” and Akçalı, “Facebook.”
40 Dembinska, “The imagined ‘other’.”
41 Bryant and Yakinthou, Cypriot perceptions.
42 Lacher and Kaymak, “Transforming Identities.”
43 Sonan, “From Bankruptcy to Unification.”
44 “FETÖ’nün Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta da izi var,” Kıbıs Postası, July 13, 2018.
45 Moudouros, “Between anti-Westernization and Islamism.”
46 Ahmad, The Making.
47 Boztemur, “Political Islam.”
48 Şen, “Transformation of Turkish Islamism.”
49 Ahmad, The Making, 219.
50 Duran, “The experience of Turkish Islamism.”
51 Moudouros, “The AKP’s pious youth.”
52 Çınar, “Turkey’s ‘Western’or ‘Muslim’identity.”
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55 Michael, “Creating a New Identity,” 25.
56 Yavuz and Öztürk, “Turkish secularism and Islam.”
57 Weise, Zia. “Turkish Cypriots fear being part of Erdoğan’s ‘pious generation.” Politico, February 10, 2018. Accessed on December 12, 2018. https://www.politico.eu/article/turkish-cypriots-fear-recep-tayyip-erdogan-pious-generation-islam-mosque/.
58 Kanol and Köprülü, “Quality of democracy,” 396–7.
59 Dayıoğlu and Hatay, Yearbook of Muslims, 2018, 172–3.
60 “KTÖS ve KTOEÖS`ten, Hala Sultan İlahiyat Koleji Hakkında Ortak Açıklama,” Haber Kıbrıs, November 4, 2016.
61 “Gökçebel: ‘İlahiyat Koleji’nde geleceğin canli bombalari yetişiyor,” Gündem Kıbrıs, March 28, 2016.
62 “KTOEÖS Başkanı Tahir Gökçebel Açıklama Yaptı” Kıbrıs Manşet, March 30, 2016.
63 Hendrich, “Islamic Religious Education,” 24.
64 “BKP: İlahiyat Fakültesi’ne karşıyız” Star Kıbrıs, November 21, 2011.
65 Latif, “Considering religious education.”
66 Moudouros, “The AKP’s pious youth.”
67 Hendrich, “Islamic Religious Education,” 25.
68 Fehime, Alasya. “Eğitim öğretim yılı ders müfredatlarında yeni uygulamalar yolda.” Yenidüzen, August 9, 2018.
69 Dayıoğlu and Köprülü, “Turkey’s new identity.”
70 Michael, “Creating a New Identity.”
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72 Özuslu, Sami. “Ümmetçilerin Gövde Gösterisi,” Yenidüzen, May 19, 2016.
73 “Kur’an Kursları üzerinden yaşanan gerginlik,” Havadis, September 4, 2016..
74 “A Conversation with the Director of Religious Affairs Dr. Yusuf Suiçmez.” Cyprus Star, July 13, 2009.
75 Dayıoğlu and Hatay, Yearbook of Muslims, 2018.
76 “Beş bin çocuğa Kur’an kursu,” Havadis, June 28, 2015.
77 “Eğitim Bakanı’na Kapak Olsun!” Yenidüzen, August 25, 2016.
78 Latif, “Considering religious education,” 69.
79 “Özyiğit: Camide değil, okulda eğitim,” Yenidüzen, August 20, 2018.
80 Hadjicotsis, M. “Turkish Cypriots split over Islam’s rise in northern Cyprus.” The National Herald, November 15, 2017.
81 Weise, “Turkish Cypriots fear,” see note 57.
82 “Dinsizler-dindarlar diye bölmeye çalışıyorlar” Yenidüzen, January 7, 2019.
83 Hatay, M. “Direniş minarelerinden vesayet minarelerine,” Gazete 360, October 16, 2013.
84 Smith, H. “‘We’re not Muslim enough’ fear Turkish Cypriots as poll looms.” The Guardian, January 6, 2018.
85 “Turkish Cypriot teachers worried about diminishing of secular education,” Cyprus Mail, August 24, 2017.
86 Ibid.
87 Dayıoğlu and Hatay, Yearbook of Muslims, 2018.
88 Düzgün, Başaran. “Mürteciye Karşı Özgürlük … ,” Havadis, May 22, 2016.
89 Dayıoğlu and Hatay, Yearbook of Muslims, 2018, 184.
90 Özdağ, Mert. “Hoş Geldiniz Tarikatlar Dönemine!” Yenidüzen, June 15, 2016.
91 Özuslu, Sami. “Evrim Yok, Cihat Var,” Yenidüzen, August 21, 2017.
92 Vural and Rustemli, “Identity Fluctuations.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Dilek Latif
Dilek Latif is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Near East University in Nicosia, Cyprus. She obtained her PhD from the Middle East Technical University with a thesis on peace building in ethnically divided societies with a focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Programs of the California State University- Dominguez Hills in Fall 2007. As part of the Short-Term Training Award of the Cyprus-America Scholarship Program, she was an affiliated research fellow at Boston University and the US Institute of Peace (USIP) in 2012. Her research interests are in the area conflict resolution and peace studies, focusing on peace building and reconciliation strategies in divided societies, including history and religious education in Cyprus. Her research has been published on these issues in international edited volumes and in peer reviewed journals.