SALIM CEVIK SUBVERTING THE SECULAR-RELIGIOUS DICHOTOMY: RELIGIOUS EXCLUSION AND NATION-BUILDING IN TURKEY AND PAKISTAN SUBVERTING A Ph.D. Dissertation THE SECULAR THE by SALIM CEVIK - RELIGIOUS DICHOTOMY RELIGIOUS Bilkent, 2015 Department of Political Science and Public Administration İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara July 2015 SUBVERTING THE SECULAR-RELIGIOUS DICHOTOMY: RELIGIOUS EXCLUSION AND NATION-BUILDING IN TURKEY AND PAKISTAN Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by SALİM ÇEVİK In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSTY ANKARA July 2015 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. ………………………………………………….. Professor Dr. Alev Çınar Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. ………………………………………………….. Assistant Professor Meral Uğur Çınar Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. ………………………………………………….. Assistant Professor Başak İnce Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. ………………………………………………….. Professor Dr. Gökhan Bacık Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. ………………………………………………….. Assistant Professor Cemil Boyraz Examining Committee Member Approval of the Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences …………………………………………………. Professor Dr. Erdal Erel Director ii ABSTRACT SUBVERTING THE SECULAR-RELIGIOUS DICHOTOMY: RELIGIOUS EXCLUSION AND NATION-BUILDING IN TURKEY AND PAKISTAN Çevik, Salim Ph.D., Department of Political Science Supervisor: Prof. Alev Çınar July 2015 This study investigates the role of religion in nation building processes of Turkey and Pakistan. Current literature on these two countries is divided between those who claim that Islam was an essential arm of nation-building and those who claim that the role of Islam, if there was any, was merely instrumental and strategic. In that it reflects the divide in the wider literature on nationalism; between those who consider nationalism as a modern and secular(izing) phenomenon and those who underline the importance of pre-modern identities in general and religion in particular in the nation formation. iii This thesis aims to go beyond this dichotomy by pointing that religion in any nation-building plays a much more complex role. It can be crucial for nation-building at a certain stage, but it may be useless, irrelevant or even an impediment at another stage of nation-building. This dissertation argues that since nation-building is a process of homogenization, the role of religion can be best analyzed through its contribution to this process at the national level. Assimilation and exclusion are two means of homogenization and religion often contributes to national homogenization by excluding members of different religious communities. This is particularly true for the multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies, with an imperial legacy. By understanding nation-building largely as a process of homogenization, this thesis builds on the legacy of Ernest Gellner and his works on nationalism. However, it aims to go beyond Gellner by bringing the role of religion to the process of homogenization. Another important aspect of this study is that homogenization is discussed in the context of the emergence of modern state and the transition from empire to nation-state. Key Words: Nation-building, Homogenization, Assimilation, Exclusion, Religion, Empires, Modern State iv ÖZET DİN-LAİKLİK KARŞITLIĞINI AŞMAK: TÜRKİYE VE PAKİSTAN’DA ULUS İNŞASINDA DİNİN DIŞLAYICI ROLÜ Çevik, Salim Doktora, Siyaset Bilimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Alev Çınar Temmuz 2015 Bu çalışmada Türkiye ve Pakistan örneklerinden yola çıkılarak dinin ulus inşa sürecindeki rolü incelenmektedir. Her iki ülke üzerine var olan akademik literatür İslam’ı ya ulus inşa sürecinin merkezine yerleştirmekte ya da tamamen dışına atmaktadır. Bu yönüyle milliyetçilik çalışmalarında var olan bir ayrım burada tekrar edilmektedir; milliyetçilik ya tamamen modern ve laik(leştirici) bir kavram olarak ele alınmakta ya da ulus inşa sürecinde din başta olmak üzere geleneksel kimliklere vurgu yapılmaktadır. Bu tez din ve laiklik temelli bu tarz bir ikili karşıtlığı kabul etmemekte ve din ile ulus inşa süreci arasında çok daha karmaşık bir ilişki olduğunu öne sürmektedir. Din v ulus inşa sürecinin belli bir aşamasında faydalı iken, başka bir aşamada faydasız hatta zararlı olabilir. Bu tez ulus inşasının aynı zamanda bir homojenleşme süreci olmasına dayanarak dinin ulus inşasındaki rolünün en sağlıklı olarak dinin homojenleşme sürecine katkısı üzerinden incelenebileceğini iddia etmektedir. Homojenleşme asimilasyon ve dışlama yollarıyla sağlanabilir. Din ise genel olarak dışlayıcı bir araç olarak başka din mensuplarını ulusal kimlikten dışlamak suretiyle ulusal homojenleşmeye katkı sağlar. Özellikle imparatorluk mirasına dayanan çok etnikli ve çok dinli toplumlarda bu süreç daha belirgindir. Ulus inşasını bir homojenleşme süreci olarak ele almakla bu çalışma Ernest Gellner’in milliyetçilik anlayışını takip etmektedir. Ancak homojenleşme sürecine dinin rolünü de dâhil etmek suretiyle Gellner’in çalışmaları geliştirilmektedir. Bu çalışmanın diğer önemli bir yanı da homojenleşme sürecinin modern devletin ortaya çıkışı ve imparatorlukların ulus-devlete evrimi çerçevesinde ele alınmasıdır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Ulus inşası, Homojenleşme, Asimilasyon, Dışlama, Din, İmparatorluklar, Modern Devlet vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was written over many years in three different countries and five different institutions. Over those long years I have accumulated so much debt to so many people that I possibly will not be able to acknowledge adequately. Yet, I have to mention certain individuals and institutions. The topic and the basic questions of this dissertation were formulated while I was a visiting scholar at Columbia University. My stay there was made possible by a grant I received from TUBITAK and by the invitation I received from Lisa Anderson. Lisa Anderson did not only make my stay at Columbia possible but she was always there whenever I needed help. Her analytical insight was particularly helpful in formulating clearly defined hypotheses from my seamless thoughts. As such she had lots of influence over this dissertation and my academic career, probably more than she is aware of. I was also very lucky to receive guidance and suggestions from top scholars such as Alfred Stepan, Jack Snyder, Pierre Birnbaum and Joseph Massad. I substantially benefited from their scholarly erudition. At Columbia I was very lucky to fill in a group of Turkish/Middle Eastern community which made my stay there both enjoyable and intellectually stimulating. Among them Hatem Ete and Nur Murphy stand out. I am also grateful to Bayram Sinkaya, Kadir Üstün, Cenk Palaz, Mehmet Fidan, Veli Yaşin, Murat Özturk, Farbod vii Honarpisheh, Mariam Banahi and Haroon Moghul for their companionship. Ahmet Kuru who was a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia was very supportive. Since our first meeting at Columbia, he kept on providing me with guidance and help whenever I needed. Butler library of the Columbia University provided the best space to make research. I studied in every different corner of this library over my various visits to New York. Upon my return from United States, I started working as a research and teaching assistant at Istanbul Bilgi University. At Bilgi I found the most hospitable environment possible. Frankly, I could never guess such a work environment could exist in Turkish academia. The crowded assistant room which I shared with Burç Beşgül, Ege Özen, Cemil Boyraz, Yavuz Tüyloğlu, Sedef Turper, Kudret Çobanlı, Deniz Gözler and Ogan Yumlu at different times over two years was a work environment that I am still missing. As a teaching assistant I had the privilege of working together with Soli Özel, Gencer Özcan and Mehmet Ali Tuğtan. I learned a lot from all of them. However Bilgi was a too pleasant environment for a task as notorious as dissertation writing. I did little progress during my stay in Istanbul. Yet another nicety of Bilgi was that it allocated paid leaves to its assistants who strive for seclusion. I was lucky enough to receive one of those paid leaves and I am very grateful to Bilgi University and my department which made it available to me. With this scholarship I spent a year at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at the Lund University in Sweden. Umut Özkırımlı, who at the time was in the stage of moving from Bilgi to Lund, helped me arrange a visiting position at Lund. And throughout my stay at Lund, he was both a mentor and a friend. I stay indebted to him. viii Lund is a perfect place for study and research and CMES had a very friendly and collegial environment. At Sweden I was also lucky to have Darcy Thompson and Bahar Ay as my officemates. I am also thankful to Leif Steinberg, Erick Hooglund and Catarina Kinvall (from the Political Science Department). Upon my return from Lund I started working at Ipek University. I am grateful to Ipek for providing me a work environment that allowed me to focus on my dissertation. At times I might have pushed the nerves of my superiors at Ipek with a never ending dissertation but it is finally over! Through the writing stage of this dissertation I made several visits to Pakistan. People who helped me with their hospitality and guidance during my stays are too many to count.