The Surprising Secular Resilience of Turkey: A Returning Expat’s Perspective

When I boarded the plane to return to Turkey after nearly two decades abroad, I braced myself for what I imagined would be a dramatically transformed nation. The Turkey I left behind in the early 2000s was a secular republic with a strong Kemalist tradition, but the intervening years had seen the rise and entrenchment of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). As an expat watching from afar, I had absorbed the narrative of Turkey’s increasing Islamization, expecting to find a country where secular traditions had been eroded and religious conservatism reigned supreme.

What I discovered upon my return was far more nuanced and, in many ways, surprisingly reassuring. Yes, Turkey has changed under Erdogan’s long rule, but not always in the ways I had anticipated. The reality I encountered challenged my preconceptions and offered a fascinating contrast to the religious and political dynamics I had observed in my years living in the United States.

One of the first things I noticed was a positive change in social attitudes. The discrimination against women wearing headscarves, once a contentious issue in Turkey’s public sphere, had largely disappeared. This shift represented progress towards individual freedom of expression, rather than the wholesale Islamization I had feared. It was a reminder that secularism, at its best, should protect religious expression as much as it guards against religious imposition.

Of course, the influence of religion in Turkish society and politics has indeed grown in certain areas. There’s no denying the government’s favoritism toward religious organizations or the proliferation of religious programming on television. However, what struck me most was not these changes, but the resilience of Turkey’s secular traditions in the face of them.

The opposition in Turkey vigorously defends secularism, keeping it at the forefront of political discourse. This stands in stark contrast to the United States, where I was surprised to find that religion plays a much more central role in politics than in contemporary Turkey. While living in America, I had become accustomed to political debates that often revolved around religious values and identity. In Turkey, unless Erdogan makes a particularly controversial statement, religion rarely takes center stage in political discussions.

This observation led me to a startling realization: in many respects, the United States appears less secular than Turkey. Take, for example, the issues of prostitution and abortion. Both remain legal in Turkey and, more importantly, they’re not constant topics of heated debate as they are in the US. The relative absence of these discussions from Turkish political discourse speaks volumes about the country’s secular foundations.

The parallels between Turkish Islamists and American Evangelicals are striking and deserve exploration. Both groups wield significant influence in their respective countries’ politics and social spheres. Interestingly, many Turkish Islamists even use translated books from American Evangelical authors to teach their children. However, there’s a crucial difference that sets them apart: the Turkish attitude towards science.

In Turkey, there’s a high regard for science and scientists that spans across ideological lines, including among Islamists. This respect for scientific achievement was evident in the pride many Turks, including conservative Muslims, took in the BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The fact that one of the lead scientists behind its development was a Turkish-German was a source of national pride that transcended religious boundaries.

This scientific reverence does have its limits, particularly when it comes to evolutionary biology. While Turkish universities still teach evolution, it has been removed from high school curricula. However, even here, the approach of Turkish Islamists differs significantly from that of many American creationists. Turkish conservatives generally accept the scientific consensus on the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years) and interpret the Quranic creation story as occurring over six eras rather than literal days. There’s a noticeable absence of young-Earth creationism or debates about the literal truth of religious myths like Noah’s flood.

This willingness to reconcile religious belief with scientific understanding reflects a more flexible approach to faith that I found refreshing. It’s an attitude that seems to echo the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, who said: “In human life, you will find players of religion until the knowledge and proficiency in religion will be cleansed from all superstitions, and will be purified and perfected by the enlightenment of real science.”

So what does all this mean for Turkey’s place on the spectrum of secularism? It’s a complex question without a simple answer. Turkey today is home to a diverse range of ideological positions: conservative secularists, liberal secularists, nationalist secularists, and even what might be called “secularist Islamists” – those who maintain strong religious beliefs but support the separation of religion and state.

Is Turkey very secular by global standards? Perhaps not. The influence of religion on politics and society is undeniably stronger than in many Western European nations. However, the current situation in the United States – with its intense religious rhetoric in politics, debates over teaching evolution, and challenges to abortion rights – makes Turkey appear remarkably secular by comparison.

This unexpected contrast has led me to reflect on the nature of secularism itself. Often, we think of secularism as a linear progression: societies move from religious to secular as they modernize. But Turkey’s example suggests a more complex reality. Here is a country that has experienced a religious revival in its politics yet maintains a strong secular tradition. It’s a place where scientific achievement is celebrated alongside religious belief, and where the debate between secularism and religion remains vigorous but doesn’t dominate every aspect of political life.

My experience returning to Turkey has taught me the danger of oversimplification when it comes to understanding the relationship between religion and politics in any society. The narrative of Turkey’s Islamization under Erdogan, while not entirely unfounded, fails to capture the nuanced reality on the ground. It overlooks the resilience of secular institutions and traditions, the complex attitudes of Turkish Muslims towards science and modernity, and the ongoing negotiation between religious and secular forces in Turkish society.

Moreover, my time in Turkey has prompted me to reconsider my perceptions of secularism in the United States. I’ve come to realize that the absence of an official state religion doesn’t necessarily equate to a truly secular political culture. The prominence of religious rhetoric and religiously motivated policies in American politics stands in stark contrast to the more subdued role of religion in Turkish political discourse, despite Turkey’s official embrace of Islam.

This comparative perspective offers valuable insights into the diverse ways societies can negotiate the relationship between religion and the state. It challenges us to move beyond simplistic categorizations of “secular” and “religious” nations and to consider instead the specific historical, cultural, and political factors that shape each country’s approach to these issues.

As I continue to readjust to life in Turkey, I find myself constantly reassessing my assumptions and expectations. The country I’ve returned to is neither the secular bastion I left two decades ago nor the Islamist state I feared I might find. Instead, it’s a dynamic and complex society grappling with questions of identity, modernity, and the proper role of religion in public life.

In many ways, Turkey serves as a fascinating case study in the ongoing global conversation about secularism, democracy, and religious freedom. Its experience demonstrates that these concepts are not fixed or universal but are constantly being redefined and renegotiated within specific cultural contexts.

As we look to the future, both Turkey and the United States face challenges in balancing religious freedom with secular governance. By comparing and contrasting their experiences, we can gain valuable insights into the complexities of this balancing act and perhaps find new ways to foster societies that respect both religious belief and secular principles.

In the end, my return to Turkey has been a journey of discovery, challenging my preconceptions and offering new perspectives on the interplay of religion, politics, and society. It’s a reminder that the world is often more complex and surprising than we expect – and that there’s always value in reassessing our assumptions and looking at familiar issues from new angles.

#TurkishSecularism #ReligionAndPolitics #ComparativePolitics