In May 2013, an anti-government protest around the development of a
small park named Gezi Park marked an important event in the history of
the clash between secularism and Islamism in Turkey, as it turned into an
all-out conflict. Turkey, the succe...
In May 2013, an anti-government protest around the development of a
small park named Gezi Park marked an important event in the history of
the clash between secularism and Islamism in Turkey, as it turned into an
all-out conflict. Turkey, the successor to the Ottoman Empire, maintained
Islamic traditions. However, while the Republican People's Party founded
by Mustafa Kamal Attatürk set Islam as the state religion, it was later
replaced by a secularist socio-political system according to the separation
of the religion and state. Turkey had been sticking to secularism, but tried
to return to Islamism through several reforms of policies. However, at each
attempt, it was prevented by military intervention in politics, eventually
going back to secularism. Erdoğan, appointed in 2002 as Turkish Prime
Minister, is trying to return to Islamism using his wide popular support. It
seems that an inevitable clash emerged during this process. The purpose of
the present study is to look into the long-time enmity and conflict between
secularism and Islamism in Turkey through the survey of the development
of the Turkish protests.