Turkish Nationalism and Islam
Seminar
Past Event
The Centre for Public Policy and Governance (CPPG)
cordially invites
you
to
A Talk
on
“Turkish Nationalism and Islam”
on
Monday, February 27, 2017 at 4 pm
Venue: Rt. Rev. Alexander John Malik Public Policy seminar room E-002
Guest Speaker: Dr. Raja M Ali Saleem – Assistant Professor CPPG
Short Abstract
‘The Turkish elite are like a man running West on the deck of a ship heading East.’ It is commonly, but erroneously, believed that Turkey was a secular country, until President Erdogan came to power. The Turkish state has a turbulent but also a fascinating relationship with Islam. Once a defender and leader of the Islamic world (the Ottoman Caliphate), it embraced secularism during the single-party period and has, since then, gradually accepting the return of Islam to the state affairs and to the public sphere. In this talk, Dr. Saleem will trace this journey, focusing on Turkish state nationalism. He will use three indicators to substantiate his thesis of an evolving affinity between Islam and Turkish state nationalism: Islamic provisions in the constitutions, Islamic basis of national symbols, and Islamic themes on national currency (banknotes).
Dr. Saleem’s book: State Nationalism and Islamization: Historical Analysis of Turkey and Pakistan will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017