A power struggle between the military regime and the Directorate of Religious Affairs: the debate over the turkification of the language of worship after the 27 May 1960 military coup (1960–1961)

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the struggle over the nationalization of the language of religion between the military regime and the Directorate of Religious Affairs in the aftermath of the military coup of 27 May 1960. For this purpose, this study focuses on the discourses of both the military regime and the Directorate of Religious Affairs, appointments made within the Directorate, the intellectual transformations that emerged within the scope of the debate, particularly on the military side, and the negotiations that took place between the two parties. The central argument here is that the National Unity Committee’s (NUC) stance toward the nationalization of the language of religion remained confined to rhetoric because of the opposition of the Directorate of Religious Affairs and therefore could not be implemented in practice. This study also aims to demonstrate the NUC’s inadequacy in terms of both program and personnel, that fear of social opposition led the military regime to retreat from the practices of the Turkish azan and the Turkish Quran, and that the Directorate of Religious Affairs, support of which was sought to contain social opposition, used this position as a bargaining tool to prevent the nationalization of the language of worship.