The Secular Character Of Ottoman Empire

1128 Words5 Pages
THE SECULAR CHARACTER OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE Danso, Martin Middle Eastern Technical University Ankara-Turkey Politically, secularism is a crusade towards separating government from religion. This can also be referred to as minimizing the relationship that exists between a government and religion. This encompasses replacing religious rules and regulations with laws that are more secular and is not tilted in favor of any religion. This aims at abolishing religious-centric division among citizens in a given polity. The Age of Enlightenment is mostly linked to secularism and since the age of enlightened in a more basic sense originated from Europe, secularism has been a major feature of European societies. Despite secularism being mostly associated with European societies, it quite important to note that, many Islamic states are also secular in nature and this can be traced to the period starting from the Middle Ages. The most striking feature of secularism is that, rules and regulation show be enacted with no religious prejudice. Most major religions accept the importance of the rules of secular and democratic society but are still inclining to influencing decision making processes. This is due to the fact that, many religious fundamentalist see some aspect of secularism as a treat to undermining their basic existence and expansion. Turkey is a unique country. This is true not only from a poltical and geographical perspective but also from a cultural and religious point of view. Its current socio –political culture as well as geographical location has been as a result of it being form from the disintegration ( moral, social and economic) of the Ottoman empire which made foes and allies over the world for their over 624 years of existence and rule (1299 to 1923?). Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk (Father of the Turks) is credited to be the founder of the
Open Document