Religion, memory, and sense of belonging: The tradition of memorization of the Qur'an in Turkey (1923-1950)

After the First World War, the emergence of nation-states brought new policies to many countries. Notably, the issue of identity and citizenship consequently became the basis of the political, social, and cultural crises and contestations. The case of the newly founded Turkish nation-state, which was based on secularization, modernization, Westernization, and nationalization, has consciously destroyed or undermined the social, cultural, political, ethnic, and religious structures that have existed in the Ottoman Empire for centuries. The formation of the Turkish nation-state resulted in deep traumas, ruptures, and fractures in the social fabric of the society and in the political milieu. The authoritarian secularization policies starting from 1923 to 1950, have profoundly influenced and shaped the history and memory of the religious communities. Dominant ideologies of the early Republican periods in Turkey have had many impacts and long lasting transformations on the social life, identity, and religiosity of ordinary Muslims. Psychological and physical tools of the violence of the state were imposed on them to implement secular policies and ideologies of the secular Turkish nation-state project. In this period of one-party regime, one of the most affected groups in the society was pious Qur'an memorizers (Hafızlar) who tried to learn the Qur'an under strict conditions. Qur'an memorizers, being one of the most marginalized and violated groups, have struggled to exist and survive in these historically dire conditions, despite the brutalities inflicted by the single party's sanctions and violent policies. The principal objective of this study is to obtain and evaluate the perceptions, experiences, and life stories of Qur'an memorizers regarding the state policies and brutalities they encountered in that era. This study particularly focuses on the relations between state, religion, memory, identity, and sense of belonging in the world of Qur'an memorizers in the years between 1923-1950.