page_title: Secularism in Turkey
section_title: Criticism
hierarchical_section_title: Secularism in Turkey / Criticism
caption_attribution_description: English: Diyanet's Budget in 2013 - Source&#160;: TBMM, Turkish Parliament, 2013.
context_page_description: Secularism in Turkey defines the relationship between religion and state in the country of Turkey. Secularism was first introduced with the 1928 amendment of the Constitution of 1924, which removed the provision declaring that the "Religion of the State is Islam", and with the later reforms of Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which set the administrative and political requirements to create a modern, democratic, secular state, aligned with Kemalism.
  Nine years after its introduction, laïcité was explicitly stated in the second article of the then Turkish constitution on February 5, 1937. The current Constitution of 1982 neither recognizes an official religion nor promotes any.
  The principle of Turkish secularism, more to the separation between state and religion and Atatürk as a Turkish intellectual "sought" secularism as a principle of state modernization and progressive ideas which included not only political and government life but also the social and cultural environment of society which was still dominated by superstition, dogma and ignorance.
context_section_description: Reforms going in the direction of secularism have been completed under Atatürk (abolition of the caliphate, etc.). However, Turkey is not strictly a secular state:
  there is no separation between religion and the state
  there is a tutelage of religion by the state
  Religion is mentioned on the identity documents and  there is an administration called "Presidency of Religious Affairs" or Diyanet which exploits Islam to legitimize sometimes State and manages 77,500 mosques. This state agency, established by Atatürk in 1924, and which had a budget over U.S. $2.5 billion in 2012 finances only Sunni Muslim worship. Other religions must ensure a financially self-sustaining running and they face administrative obstacles during operation.
  When harvesting tax, all Turkish citizens are equal. The tax rate is not based on religion. However, through the Diyanet, Turkish citizens are not equal in the use of revenue. For example, Câferî (Ja'fari) Muslims (mostly Azeris) and Alevi Bektashi (mostly Turkmen) participate in the financing of the mosques and the salaries of Sunni imams, while their places of worship, which are not officially recognized by the State, don't receive any funding.
  Theoretically, Turkey, through the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), recognizes the civil, political and cultural rights of non-Muslim minorities. In practice, Turkey only recognizes Greek, Armenian and Jewish religious minorities without granting them all the rights mentioned in the Treaty of Lausanne.
  Alevi Bektashi Câferî Muslims, Catholics and Protestants are not recognized officially.
  With more than 100,000 employees, the Diyanet is a kind of state within the state.
  
  In 2013, with over 4.6 billion TL (Turkish Lira), Diyanet or Ministry of Religious Affairs, occupies the 16th position of central government expenditure.
  
  The budget allocated to Diyanet is:
  1.6 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of the Interior
  1.8 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Health
  1.9 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology
  2.4 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning
  2.5 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
  2.9 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  3.4 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Economy
  3.8 times larger than the budget of the Ministry of Development
  4.6 times larger than the budget allocated to MIT – Secret Services 
  5,0 times larger than the budget allocated to the Department of Emergency and Disaster Management
  7.7 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources
  9.1 times larger than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Customs and Trade
  10.7 times greater than the budget allocated to Coast Guard
  21.6 times greater than the budget allocated to the Ministry of the European Union
  242 times larger than the budget for the National Security Council
  268 times more important than the budget allocated to the Ministry of Public Employee
  Diyanet's budget represents:
  79% of the budget of the Police
  67% of the budget of the Ministry of Justice
  57% of the budget of the Public Hospitals
  31% of the budget of the National Police
  23% of the budget of the Turkish Army (NATO's second largest standing army)
caption: Diyanet's Budget in 2013 – Source : TBMM, Turkish Parliament, 2013.
exif: {}