This has been a long time coming, given Erdogan’s longstanding caliphate dreams, and will likely soon be a reality.
“Hagia Sophia imam urges elimination of principle of secularism in new constitution,” Turkish Minute, February 10, 2021 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
The chief imam of the Hagia Sophia, which was converted into a mosque from a museum last summer, has said the principle of secularism should be eliminated in a new constitution to be drafted by Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and that Islam should be set as the religion of Turkey.
The controversial remarks were made by Professor Mehmet Boynukalın on Twitter on Wednesday.
“In the constitution of 1921 and 1924, the religion of the state was Islam and there was no [reference to] secularism. Let the republic return to its factory settings. May Islam be in the [new] Constitution,” tweeted Boynukalın.
Turkey’s current constitution, drafted in the aftermath of a military coup in 1980, asserts that Turkey is supposed to be a secular and democratic republic, deriving its sovereignty from the people. Secularism is among the first three articles of the constitution, defined as the founding principles of the republic. The fourth article of the constitution declares the immovability the founding principles of the republic defined in the first three articles.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently announced that he wants to press ahead with the drafting of a new constitution for Turkey to replace the coup-era charter.
Erdoğan’s AKP, which has roots in political Islam, has faced accusations from the country’s secular population about its plans to do away with secularism.
Despite international outrage, Erdoğan realized a long dream of his in July, opening Hagia Sophia to Muslim prayer….
No Muzzies Here says
Turkey has been an Islamic republic ever since it abandoned the principles of Ataturk. It had the opportunity to go back to those principles, but rejected the possibility. It is now going backwards in time. This can benefit no one.
mortimer says
Turkey’s secularists had better figure out how to weaken faith in Islam within Turkey. If they don’t, then it’s game over for secularism in Turkey.
revereridesagain says
Well there, now. At least there’ll be some place where they can get rid of those nasty books challenging the beliefs of Christianity … oh no, wait…
Jayell says
Time to cut ties with Turkey and throw it out of NATO. It’s just not possible to accommodate a pseudo-theocratic totalitarian dictatorship in (what’s supposed to be) the free democratic world especially since the Turkish government has already demonstrated that it doesn’t seem to understand that its jurisdiction stops at its borders.
gravenimage says
+1
Infidel says
Essentially, he’s asking for the Turkish constitution to officially encode something that everyone knows is already in practise
Michael Copeland says
Hear Yusuf al Qaradawi:
“The acceptance of a legislation formulated by humans means a preference of the humans’ limited knowledge and experiences to the divine guidance: “Say! Do you know better than Allah?” (Qur’an, 2:140)
For this reason, the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam. Its acceptance as a basis for rule in place of Shari’ah is downright apostasy.”
https://knowing-islamic-doctrines.blogspot.com/2010/12/secularism-vs-islam-qaradawi-says.html
jim says
The West should nationaliz all the Muslim mosques and cultural centers and turn them into warehouses or recycling centers so they find out how it feels to be treated the way they treat Christian and Jewish, Hindu and Buddist churches, temples and synagogues.
gravenimage says
Turkey: Chief imam of Hagia Sophia calls for elimination of principle of secularism in new constitution
…………….
This should surprise no one.