Freedom of Religion in Turkey between Secular and Islamic Values The Situation of Christians Anna Maria Beylunioğlu Atlı Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Florence, January 2017 European University Institute Department of Political and Social Sciences Freedom of Religion in Turkey between Secular and Islamic Values The Situation of Christians Anna Maria Beylunioğlu Atlı Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Examining Board Prof. Olivier Roy, EUI (Supervisor) Prof. Nilüfer Göle, EHESS Prof. Şahin Alpay, Bahçeşehir University (Emeritus) Prof. Donatella della Porta, fomerly EUI/SNS ©Beylunioglu, 2017 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Researcher declaration to accompany the submission of written work Department of Political and Social Sciences - Doctoral Programme I <Anna Maria Beylunioğlu Atlı> certify that I am the author of the work <Freedom of Religion in Turkey between Secular and Islamic Values: The Situation of Christians> I have presented for examination for the Ph.D. at the European University Institute. I also certify that this is solely my own original work, other than where I have clearly indicated, in this declaration and in the thesis, that it is the work of others. I warrant that I have obtained all the permissions required for using any material from other copyrighted publications. I certify that this work complies with the Code of Ethics in Academic Research issued by the European University Institute (IUE 332/2/10 (CA 297). The copyright of this work rests with its author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that fufull acknowledgement is made. This work may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. This authorisation does not, to the best of my knowledge, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that this work consists of <100217> words. Statemment of language correction: This thesis has been corrected for linguistic and stylistic errors. I certify that I have checked and approved all language corrections, and that these have not affected the content of this work. 04.01.2017 ABSTRACT Freedom of religion has been a delicate issue since the foundation of the Turkish Republic, despite the principle of secularism stated in the country’s constitution since 1937. This is especially evident in considering the status of non-Muslim minorities. After decades marked by assaults aimed at the non-Muslims of Turkey and confiscation of properties belonging to their communities, several reform packages were adopted by the Turkish government in order better to secure their religious freedoms. Recent developments signaled a change may be underway with regard to state’s approach to religion in general, and non-Muslims in particular. Despite the growing body of literature focusing on the recent democratization process in Turkey, only a few studies found the case of non-Muslims worthy of including in their analysis, as they are often perceived to be insignificant due to their small share among the general population. In accounting for recent developments visible in various fields such as civil- military relations, Kurdish issue and religion-state relations, a vast majority scholarship has perceived the European Union accession process as the main anchor of this democratization process. Considering, however, that the recasting of freedom of religion has continued even after the stagnation of EU conditionality, alternative explanations must be explored. I argue that the recent process of recasting the parameters of religious freedoms can be solely explained by neither the role of EU conditionality nor the reading of developments through separate alternative models. Though recent years have witnessed several significant attempts combining various models in explaining the democratization process, no analysis to date has paid particular attention to religion and religious preferences, and I believe this leads to an insufficient understanding of recent developments in relation to freedom of religion. In order to gain a comprehensive perspective, I have adopted an analytically eclectic approach benefitting from External Incentives, Social Learning and Lesson Drawing models and demonstrated how together they have interactively shaped the parameters of freedom of religion throughout different time periods in the Turkish state. I have employed a within-case- comparison methodology of three time periods (1999-2005/ 2005-2010/ 2011-2015), embracing a process-tracing method. Taking the results generated by applying these models to the context in Turkey, I contend that EU conditionality was the initial motive behind the reform process in the first time period analyzed, while growth of social dynamics has been observed only during the second period. Finally, the lesson drawing model, aka the AKP’s preferences, have played a decisive role throughout all of the time periods examined. i Acknowledgements It is gratifying to see the fruits of years’ efforts; I have to admit, it has been a long exhausting journey! But it would not be possible to materialize it without the support of my professors, colleagues, family and friends. There are several people among them whose guidance enabled me to complete this dissertation. First and foremost, I would like to thank to the members of my dissertation committee, Prof. Göle, Prof. Alpay, and Prof. della Porta for their invaluable and constructive criticisms. However, I owe particular gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Roy, who had been a great mentor to me from the beginning of my PhD process and who provided me both with intellectual and psychological support during the writing process. I also owe sincere thanks to my interviewees for their trust in me; this thesis would not be completed without the insightful information they provided. A very special thanks goes to Luiz Bakar and Boğos Silahlı at this point, sharing their experience with me as senior members of Armenian community, also Cems Beylunioglu for enabling most of the interviews conducted for this thesis. There are also several fellow doctoral students for whom I am grateful for their friendship as well as helpful discussions we held during our coffee and lunch breaks at the EUI. Milan Obaidi and Piotr Kisiel not only were my colleagues; at times they supported me during my hard times and always made me smile. A special thanks goes to Simon Watmough, apart from his encouragement, I am indebted to him for his great work in polishing my thesis. I am particularly thankful to Lotta-Liina Mustonen. I learned a lot from our debates on secularists vs. Islamists in Egypt and in Turkey. I am also indebted to Özgür Kaymak both for her friendship and academic contribution to this thesis by sharing her insights on socio-political behavior of non-Muslim communities in Turkey. I owe, however, my deepest gratitude to Dr. Güliz Dinç, who is both an expert on Islam and Islamism in Turkey and my dear friend from the early days of my academic career. Her constant emotional and academic encouragement as well as our fruitful discussions on religion, politics and society guided me during the writing process. Not to mention, her invaluable criticism and comments on the earlier versions substantially contributed to the final version of this dissertation. Without the moral and financial support of my parents, however, it would be difficult to complete this challenging task. I am especially thankful to them for their patience and never stopping believing in me. I feel lucky to have Fuat Can Beylunioğlu, a bright academic, as a brother and my father İbrahim Beylunioğlu who supported me morally and financially but more importantly provided profound contributions for this thesis with his intellectual knowledge. I am also indebted to Helen Bolşen, my mother, for her patience and limitless financial support. I also wish to thank Nesrin Mete, Seval Aygün, Güliz Dinç (one more time) and her daughter Nevin Belcher, who have become my second family, for their friendship, joy and support. Finally, I have numerous reasons to be forever indebted to my beloved husband, Altay Atlı; most important of all, for being with me through thick and thin and for his endless love and support. He always believed in me, reminded me my potentials as a non-Muslim academic. He also, being a successful academician himself constrantly reminded me that significance of PhD is not limited to the end-product, the thesis, but it is more about the experience and the process of producing it. January 2017 Florence-Istanbul ii iii In loving memory of my grandmother Zekiye Bolşen (1943 -2011) who passed away the day I got accepted to PhD program at the EUI. iv Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................................ ii Contents ...................................................................................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations...........................................................................................................................................