Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı dini bir vesayet kurumu mudur?

In this thesis, we will examine the institution named Directorate of Religious Affairs that was established as a result of the policies related to religious affairs during the single-party era period of Turkey. The changes occurred in the structural and institutional character of the Directorate will be, within the context of republican revolutionary movements considered as an extension of the Ottoman modernization efforts, at the center of this study. Particularly, the transformation of the domestic political scene following the establishment of the multi-party system and its impact on the religious field will inevitably be the main element of our thesis. In the first part, by tackling Republican People's Party's view toward religion and the legal regulations aiming rearrangement of the religious field throughout the single-party period, we will analyze every law promulgated until the constitution of 1961 in relation to religious affairs. The legal reforms realized in 1924, in this regard, play a central role in redefining the religious field and concerning the presence and the functioning of the Directorate of Religious Affairs within a secular state. The instrumentalization of the Directorate of Religious Affairs by the political authority in order to prevent any opposition grounded on religious issues and the responsibilities assumed by this controversial institution have turned into one of the main factors facilitating the emergence and the positioning of certain politico-religious movements within the realm of Turkish political life. Within this context, Turkish political parties founded in the post-1945 period have all tried to presume of the religious field and the institution that has the control of this field, namely the Directorate of Religious Affairs. In the post-WWII, in particular, the engagement of Turkey within the Western Bloc and, as a corollary, the intensification of the anti-leftist policies, caused the increase in the importance of religion in the eyes of the Turkish society. In the second part, the secularism and religion have become, between the years 1946-1960, the major sources of debate in Turkish political life. The Directorate of Religious Affairs, throughout this period, has played a vital role in approving and carrying out the policies of the present government. With the foundation of the Religious Vocational Schools emerged the religious bureaucracy that has the belief in values of the new regime. As a result, especially following the Constitution of 1961, the Directorate of Religious Affairs has gained a constitutional identity and its institutionalization process has accelerated. The establishment of a modern bureaucratic structure, a sine qua non condition for a modern state, has ultimately led to the bureaucratization of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. In this study, the structure, position and importance of the Directorate of Religious Affairs as an institution of bureaucratic religious tutelage were examined in Turkish political life between the years 1945 and 1960.