THE SECULARIZATION AND DESECULARIZATION NEXUS IN THE TURKISH CONTEXT: WHAT IS BEHIND
THE SECULARIZATION AND DESECULARIZATION NEXUS IN THE TURKISH CONTEXT: WHAT IS BEHIND

Summary/Abstract: The history of Turkey provides multiple examples of intricate combination of secularization (in the Turkish tradition – laicism) and desecularizaion (under-stood as a revival of Islam and its expansion into social life) while its contem-porary dynamics provides a background for a non-conventional view on the correlation between the state and religion in the Muslim societies. The desecu-larization of Turkey has been a continuous process since the late 1940s, making it increasingly convenient for Islamists to become more visible in the political and the socioeconomic spheres. This paper analyzes the inclusion and accommoda-tion of the “Turkish Islamism” into the sociopolitical life of Turkey focusing on such important phenomena as the constantly expanding religious sphere, the emergence of economic liberal conservatism, the rising resurgence of Islamism in education and media sphere together with the “jemaatization” of the Turk-ish society. The analysis of desecularization dynamics in Turkey let one reassess the way religion and politics interconnect in the Muslim societies. The manifold manifestations of descularization in social, political and economic life, its pro-found impact on the Turkish party system, banking sector, education and mass media indicates the dialectic nature of secularization and desecularization nexus and reveals the flexibility of the border between religious and political spheres.

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