Laicism understandi̇ng of Milli Gorus Movement

The concepts of secularism and laicism have emerged as a result of religious wars in Western European countries and sovereignty struggles between religion and church. Republic of Turkey has included secularism in the constitution in 1937 as a result of steps taken towards Westernization. Before this date, although the religion of the state was stated as Islâm in the 1921 Constitution, this article was abolished and de facto laicism practices were on the agenda of the country until 1937. With the introduction of de jure laicism in the country, the debate on laicism began. Particularly during the İnönü governments, the implementation of the principle of laicism by many people in the executive power more strictly than the other principles caused some discomfort in the country. The lack of a definition and limitation of the concept of laicism in the constitution caused the concept to be interpreted arbitrarily. Therefore, many political parties, movements and institutions have been adversely affected by these arbitrary interpretations. Milli Gorus Movement can be given as an example. In 1969, Milli Gorus Movement, which started the politics as the "Independence Movement", has positioned itself with the Islamic religion from the beginning. In this sense, the movement refers to religion (Islâm) rather than "national". The movement has been a coalition partner many times since its establishment. In 1995, it became the biggest partner of the coalition with the highest vote. The movement criticized the official understanding of laicism both during the time it was a coalition partner and in opposition. Therefore, the movement followed many methods to erode the understanding of formal laicism. Therefore, the movement emphasizes many "Muslim" and "jihad" accents in order to erode the understanding of official laicism. It states that Islam cannot fit into conscience. It protects Muslim values. It defends the Islamic Union. It demands freedom of religion and imam hatip schools. It wants the staff of the Presidency of Religious Affairs to be increased. These are some of highlighted the methods. Moreover, the movement tried to publicize religion and to draw the limits of laicism. The movement makes some demands by putting Islamic religion at the center by observing positive neutrality and does not restrict the right of other religions to life. In this thesis, the concepts of laicism and secularism will be discussed and then the laicism practices of the Ottoman Empire from the last period to 1969 will be examined. Then, after studying the history and concept of Mıllı Gorus, laicism understanding of the movement which is the main subject of the thesis will be discussed. Keywords: Erbakan, Laicism (Laïcisme), Milli Gorus Movement, Secularism, Islâm