Atatürk and Secularism

Abstract

Secularism, Prof. It is "the cornerstone of the Turkish Revolution", as Feyzioğlu has put it in place. Indeed, secularism is an integral part of the rationalist and scientist attitude that constitutes the core of the Kemalist thought system; is the necessary result. Secularism is an indispensable condition of modernization, the main target of the Turkish Revolution. Without a secularism, neither a rational approach can be mentioned, nor the goal of modernization can be achieved. The modern society is the secular society. Why is secularism so important for the Turkish Revolution and the Kemalist thought system? As it is known, the Ottoman State, like all other Islamic states, was a "theocratic" (religious) rule. The Western world has begun to separate religion and world affairs from the Renaissance and Reform movements, freeing the life of thought and science from the oppression of religious rules and dominating the rational principles of the state administration. With the influence of these changes, while Western societies developed and strengthened rapidly in the New Age, the once glorious state, the Ottoman Empire, became increasingly backward in every area because this development could not keep pace, and finally, it was possible to balance the balance accounts and the conflicts of interests among the great Western states in order to preserve their existence in the nineteenth century. It has come.