In the city of Istanbul in Turkey, a historical museum has been converted into a mosque but it is the superficial heading ;What's more interesting is the events that happened before it which ultimately led to this decision; What is the story of secularism in Turkey and what is the story of Turkish president Erdogan.
History of Turkey
Turkey is a Muslim majority country as 98% population here follows Islam along with Azerbaijan , Indonesia, Kazakhstan are counted as one of the most secular Muslim majority country.
Ottoman empire regain in country after world war I , after the decline of ottoman empire general Ataturk liberated turkey in 1923, Ataturk was a dictator but he was one of the dictators of the world who can be put into the category of “Benevolent Dictator” he was one of those few dictator who had worked in favor of the public and the nation, he wanted turkey to be a secular country.
In 1924 a new Turkish constitution was adopted and in 1928 Islam was removed as a state religion from Turkey, Ataturk from the very beginning do not want turkey as a communist country several steps were taken in subsequent years to achieve this motive.
For example-: Ministry of Shia was disbanded, Islamic schools were banned and the mosques were brought under the control of the government , polygamy was banned, equal rights for men and women were given, compulsory education was introduced, etc.
Ataturk principle’s were inspired by the French secularism, in French secularism the government and the religion were kept separated. After Ataturk’s death in 1950 democracy finally came into turkey and for the first time free and fair elections were conducted and it became very clear from these elections that people here do not want secularism they want to preach and profess Islam in their country.
In 1960,1971,1980 the government of Turkey was removed by the military coup; as Ataturk in his reign made a provision in the constitution which gave power to the military to remove the government; if secularism is endangered by the government activities.
Rise of Erdogan
The president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan started his career by becoming a mayor of Istanbul in 1990. He has a positive image among the people as he had worked a lot for the welfare of the people and in 2001 he made his political party- Justice and Development party.
Erdogan and his party fulfilled the wishes of people for establishing the type of Secularism like the one practiced in India and united states and not the French secularism , due to his previous record of good work on basis of that he won the election in 2002 and later due to his work for the development.
Turkey saw great growth in economic , educational and healthcare, minority religion was also supported during the initials years of Erdogan and on basis of his good work he won elections for the three consecutive time.
According to the Turkish constitution a person can be the PM of turkey only for three years so after being in power for 15years as a PM of Turkey Erdogan do not want to lose his power so to maintain his status in 2014 he stood for fighting election for the president of turkey and made some reforms in the constitution to assign opulent number of powers to the president.
Fall of Erdogan
As mentioned earlier ,Ataturk has assigned responsibility to the military of protecting the constitution, under any circumstances. So, the Turkish military did the same as earlier; they attempted a military coup and tried to strip off Erdogan and overturn the constitution.
According to the Turkish constitution a person can be the PM of turkey only for three years so after being in power for 15years as a PM of Turkey Erdogan do not want to lose his power so to maintain his status in 2014 he stood for fighting election for the president of turkey and made some reforms in the constitution to assign opulent number of powers to the president.
Fall of Erdogan
As mentioned earlier ,Ataturk has assigned responsibility to the military of protecting the constitution, under any circumstances. So, the Turkish military did the same as earlier; they attempted a military coup and tried to strip off Erdogan and overturn the constitution.
But this time the military coup failed. Later in 2017 Erdogan transferred all the powers of the PM to the president and the post of PM was completely abolished and became the president with absolute power and because of this the president forgot to do basic job of the politician i.e. development of the country and the outcome came as a decline in the GDP in all arenas.
How is building up a mosque in place of a museum attracted Turkish protests?
Later the people of turkey protested against Erdogan and in order to regain people’s support Erdogan used the religion as a means to distract and incite them from the economic and developmental crisis.
In years after 2018 he reestablished communalism and had brought back all the principles that were disbanded by the Ataturk for eg-; Islamic schools, Inaugurated largest mosque in Istanbul, Ministry of Shia was reestablished etc.
Conclusion
We can conclude that the mosque built (Hagia Sophia) replacing a historical museum is because politics and religious beliefs were taken together for establishing the political structure as defined by Erdogan and for the free flow of the country.
Written By - Vanshu Verma
How is building up a mosque in place of a museum attracted Turkish protests?
Later the people of turkey protested against Erdogan and in order to regain people’s support Erdogan used the religion as a means to distract and incite them from the economic and developmental crisis.
In years after 2018 he reestablished communalism and had brought back all the principles that were disbanded by the Ataturk for eg-; Islamic schools, Inaugurated largest mosque in Istanbul, Ministry of Shia was reestablished etc.
Conclusion
We can conclude that the mosque built (Hagia Sophia) replacing a historical museum is because politics and religious beliefs were taken together for establishing the political structure as defined by Erdogan and for the free flow of the country.
Written By - Vanshu Verma
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