Atatürk and The Religion of Islam

Özet

In my point of view, among Atatürk's thoughts and reforms, the most frequently perverted ones of their content and the most commonly misinterpreted ones are those which concern the religion of Islam and secularism. On one side, the materialists and the atheists who have never cared for religion a tall have gone so far as to claim on purpose and without any base that Atatürk was a leader either hostile to the religion of Islam or one who simply ignored it. Such people have taken this position to hide their intentions behind Atatürk's reforms. On the other side, some small groups who were misled by this insidious propaganda and whose interests fell into danger worked for hand in hand with those who had no accurate knowledge about secularism at all and who preferred to remain ignorant of Atatürk's thoughts and his real attitude towards the religion of Islam. Instead, such people were expected to explore his positive and reforming approaches to religion, to evaluate them critically and to develop them. As a result of these unfortunate developments there appeared two opposing sects concerning Atatürk and his reforms: One exploiting him, the other rejecting. In consequence, both have given harm to Atatürk and the country. It is impossible to judge a person apart from his views and thoughts. The full understanding of Atatürk and his principles can be acquired by exploring the main thoughts and views held and put by him.