Cultural Secularism and Its Impact in Contemporary Türkiye

In the contemporary history of the Muslim world, the term Türkiye is associated with secularism. Because after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, it experienced secularism, whenever the term “Türkiye” is mentioned, secularism comes to mind. It still is continuing its way with the same secularist identity. Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) took the French Laïcité as a model and changed the identity of his country from an Islamic caliphate to a secular one. During his time, political secularism was not implemented; rather, cultural secularism was implemented in practice, and its influence continues till today. So far, a lot of studies has been done on political secularism instead of cultural secularism. In this paper, the effect of cultural secularism in Türkiye is discussed and calls researchers to examine this vital cultural issue in Muslim societies. Getting to know the impact of cultural secularism can make Islamic societies aware of the damage caused in Turkish society. Through a historical method and approach, this article tries to show that cultural secularism in Türkiye influenced hugely almost all cultural elements including beliefs, values, norms, rites and rituals, and customs. Among these impacts are the acceptance of the French ideology of laicity, the sanctification of the secularist system, the transformation of extreme nationalism into a value, the transformation of standards and dos and don'ts of society, and the transformation of the Turkish identity from indigenous to western.