Abstract

Since the founding of the republic in 1923, the Turkish state has imposed an official monopoly over the religious field in the name of secularism. Unlike most studies on Islam and politics in modern Turkey, this chapter focuses on the role of the principal state religious institution, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), and its fluctuating relationship to unofficial Islamic currents. The historically complex relationships between the Diyanet and non-state actors show that the categories of “official Islam” and “unofficial Islam” are and have always been contingent on the changing political interests of state actors.

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