Ban On Arabıc Azan And Its Lıftıng

Abstract

made some revolutions for the transformation of the country. Language of the call to prayers was one of the emphasized issues within the scope of secularism. In line with the aim of modernisation and creating a civil society, it was emphasized that the language of call to prayer should be in Turkish language and that it was not a religious issue but a language problem. Then, the first arrangements were made based on this idea. Although the said arrangement was reflected as a language issue by the government, the public viewed it as an interference to the religion, acted reluctantly to follow it and even reacted strongly in some cases. In the upcoming years, upon increasing violations, the government made the said arrangement a binding one through legislation. However, with the new multi-party era where the focus of the conjunctural ambient was being engaged to international structures rather than strengthening the national structure, the government loosened some of the principles. The issues which the public was feeling uncomfortable with became important especially after the establishment of the Democrat Party. In the period, removing the ban on call to prayer drawing reaction of the public came to the fore. The Democrat Party taking control of the government in the elections held in a short span of time fulfilled the request of the public and removed the ban on call to prayer in Arabic language. The present study includes the reflections of Turkish azan and multi-party life on religious freedom during the era when Arabic azan was banned to be lifted afterwards. While conducting the study, a literature review was made in addition to reviewing and evaluating all the related data and documents available at the General Directorate of State Archives, all the important newspaper of the era together with the news and articles. The present study on a rarely studied subject, namely azan, has an importance in terms of political communication discipline and aims at making a unique and high-quality contribution in this regard.