Modernity is a project that certain people in power seek to achieve, which aims at institutionalizing a number of principles including constitutionalism, moral autonomy, democracy, human rights, civil equality, industry, consumerism, freedom of the market -and secularism

The concept of ‘secular’ etymologically derives from the Latin word ‘saeculum’, which means ‘this age’, or ‘belonging to today’s world’. In English, it has been used to mean ‘the exclusion of belief in God from matters of ethics and morality’ since the 1850s

The most common classification made by social theorists regarding the two types of secularization makes a distinction between the Anglo-Saxon and the French models. The AngloSaxon model is based on the liberalization of the state and church together whereas the French model derives from the fight between liberal social powers and the
church who is conservative and tries to preserve its status on the state.

The thesis of secularization was invented to describe the notion of the displacement of religion from the social life of humans, which has turned to be a major change in social structure

The paradigm of secularization, the bases of which were established by the first sociologists mentioned above, has recently been improved by Steve Bruce (2011), who define secularization through three major developments in the modernization process. These are differentiation, decline of religion, and privatization

The privatization thesis assumes that “religious institutions were becoming increasingly irrelevant and marginal to the functioning of the modern world, and that the modern religion itself was no longer to be found inside the churches

To Habermas, in an increasingly secularized environment, religious communities still pursue their existence. This state is defined by him as “post-secular society” (Habermas, 2008, p.19).

Religion in the Ottoman State had always carried a major role from its first establishment till its resolution era. One of the major historians studying the Ottoman Empire, Paul Wittek claims that ‘ghazwa’ (a battle often led by Islamic goals) is a dominant factor in explaining the foundation of the Ottoman State. During the foundation era, the Ottoman State was under the influence of more heterodox religious tendencies, whereas, by the time the state was institutionalized into an empire, it had developed a rather orthodox religious form, that of a Sunni Islamic state

Although the Ulema is considered an important element of power in the Classical Age of Ottoman Empire, the form of religion-state relations was to a great extent different from that of Feudal Europe because, in the Ottoman, there was neither Church nor clergy. Religion, though being a major component of the administrative and jurisdical system of the state, was not the only determinant factor. The Ulema was in no position similar to that of clergy in Feudal Europe as it intervened in state affairs only to the extent that it was allowed to

The reformation process in the Ottoman State first of all started in the military field as improvements in the armed forces were thought to have a positive influence on the
state to regain its political power.

In case of Ulema, a new type of court (Meclis-i Valayı Ahkam-ı Adliye in Ottoman lang.) was established in 1838 for administrative affairs, which replaced the religious court. Second, a new penal code was brought for public law (Ceza Kanunname-i Hümayunu in Ottoman lang.) in 1840. Moreover, in 1858, a secular land law, in 1859 a secular trade law, and in 1864 a marine trade law was enacted. In 1867, the administrative courts independent of religious courts were established. Finally, in the final years of the Ottoman Empire and on the verge of the First World War, Shaikh al-lslam (the chief religious official in the Ottoman empire) was taken out of the cabinet, and the religious courts under Shaikh al-lslam were tied to the Ministry of Justice; the management of foundations was taken from Shaikh al-lslam and given to a member of the cabinet; and finally medressehs, which were also under Shaikh al-lslam, were tied to the Ministry of Education. All these examples meant the loss of power for the Ulema in the reformation period of the Ottoman Empire.

The reforms targeting the secularization of Turkey could be categorized into three areas. The first was the secularization of state, education and law, which aimed to transform the institutional and traditional strength of Islam carried by the Ulema. The second was the measures taken against religious symbols and their replacement by the symbols of Western civilization. The third was the secularization of social life and the attack on popular Islam it entailed.

In 1928, the principle of ‘The religion of the state is Islam’ was removed from the constitution. In 1937, the principle of secularism (laïcité) was put into the constitution.

As part of another reform in 1934, wearing all types of religious attire for ordinary people was restricted to mosques in order to make religious symbols invisible in daily life. This ban had an exception, though, for those who were the clerical leaders of different religious communities existing in the population of the country. Thus, religious attire in daily life and in occasions that are not religious was deemed legal only to one person for each religion, to whoever is the spiritual leader of it.

As a result of the elections held in 1950, Democrat Party ended the 27-year dominance and hegemony of CHP. DP won three consecutive elections between 1950 and 1960 and maintained its power. With May 27, 1960 coup, Democrat Party was closed and the state was governed by military forces until the elections in 1961.

Tijâniyyah: The Sûfi tariqah founded by Ahmad at-Tijani (1150/1738–1230/1815), who was inspired to found the tariqah after seeing a vision of the Prophet Muhammad. As
a reformist tariqah, it stressed the adherence to the “way of Muhammad” (Arabic attariqah al-Muhammadiyyah), a simplified practice that gained rapid popularity in North Africa. Recent independence movements have driven underground the influence and practice of the tariqah and Sûfism in general (Newby, 2004, p. 204).

There are a couple of reasons for the revival of Islam in this period. The first reason is related to the tolerance created by both the 1961 constitution and the policies of central right governments. The second major factor that eased the revival of Islam was migration

The political reflection of this revival is the foundation of National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi-MNP) in 1970, and the close relationships between right wing political parties and some religious groups such as Naqshbandi and Nur assertions.

Turgut Özal was both a liberal and a conservative. He frequently mentioned three freedoms; freedom of thought, freedom of religion and conscience, and freedom of enterprise. Freedom of religion and conscience is a universal right. For him, freedom of thought is also essential; however, all humans do not necessarily express ownership of thoughts and ideas while most humans have a faith in God and religion, and practice their religion on a daily basis (Yazıcıoğlu, 2016, p. 165)

AK Party was founded in 2001 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his friends. Shortly after its foundation, it won the election by the majority of votes and elected for government