The Fate of Religious Empires, and Their Importance to Turkey Today

By AJ Steinmetz

To most Americans, Turkey is a country that is thought of ambiguously. It is in the Middle East, so aren’t they Muslim? Doesn’t that mean they have Sharia law, and hate Americans? These sentiments are far from the facts about the modern nation-state of Turkey, but Turkey’s geographical location does not stop us from viewing it with some suspicion. Perhaps because it borders countries like Iraq, Iran and Syria, these concerns are not completely unreasonable. But what I have found is that though Turkey is a crossroads of sorts between Europe and the Middle East, the Turkish people share more cultural material with the west than with explicitly Islamic countries. Sometimes this gap between Turkey and countries like Saudi Arabia is surprisingly large, maybe even larger than the religious-political contrast between the United States and Saudi Arabia. However, even a brief overview of Turkish history can reveal some reasons for this.

Asia Minor essentially acts as a large land bridge between Europe and Asia. For this reason, it was constantly crossed and conquered by armies. This began with the Hittites but also includes historical figures like Xerxes and Alexander the Great. Especially during the Roman era, Asia Minor was a particularly patriotic area in the Roman Empire. Worship of the emperors as gods was not something ordered by Rome and brought to the area. Rather, it sprung up from the peoples’ appreciation for the Empire. It was in this religious-political environment that the first Christians experienced persecution, and only because their theological worldview could not allow them to declare that Caesar is Lord. By the 4^th century, Christianity was not only a tolerated religion, but the official religion of the Eastern Roman Empire. The emperor became the Vicar of Christ, and his Empire was the actual Kingdom of God breaking into the world talked about by Jesus in the gospels.

Under these circumstances, fringe Christian groups who did not adhere to the creeds produced by certain ecumenical gatherings were heavily persecuted, including the church that is today the Orthodox Coptic Church of Egypt. In addition to this, many pagan shrines were torn down, statues destroyed, and temples converted into churches. By the 10^th century, the Seljuk Turks had begun conquering the exhausted Byzantine Empire. The Turks, who were Sunni Muslims, would eventually go on to gain control of Constantinople, the center of the Eastern Orthodox world. The Ottoman Sultans were the ultimate protectors of Islam, and continued to war with Christendom in Europe for centuries.

The Temple of Aphrodite in Aphrodisias is an excellent example of a goddess temple later converted into a Christian church

                 For thousands of years empires have risen and fallen in Asia Minor, and often these empires had strong religious connections. It is no surprise that after World War I, with the Ottoman Empire all but eliminated, Atatürk sought to found an explicitly secular government. Over and over again we have heard from Turks how proud they are of their secular government; that women had the right to vote in Turkey before they could in France; that they are free to drink and eat whatever they see fitting. Often in more heavily populated areas like Izmir, Turkish flags include a portrait of Ataturk on them. This is a bizarre notion to us – we respect the contributions of leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but it would almost be patriotic sacrilege to include their face on the American flag!

A typical street in Izmir--a flag with Atatürk on it hangs from a window

                During my homestay in Izmir, I experienced something that perfectly highlights the tension in Turkey between its cult of secularism and Muslim identity. Our host mother’s brother was explaining to us over dinner that it was a Muslim holiday. Specifically, the day that Muhammad ascended into heaven from the Dome of the Rock and returned to Mecca at the end of. He offered to take us to a mosque in order to view the unique ceremonies that were taking place on this day. And of course we wanted to! The brother, was an open and kind man, and when we talked to him about what it meant to be a Muslim, he stressed love and peace as the virtues that drew him to the faith of his forefathers.

Mosque in the center of Izmir at afternoon prayer

But the idea of bringing us to a mosque sent our house father into a near frenzy; fast, angry Turkish shot across the room back and forth. Our house father was not just secular but irreligious, and quite proud to be. He had a small collection of used whiskey and Jägermeister bottles in the corner for decorations, and kept a Guy Fawkes mask in the backseat of his car, “for the riots,” he explained. Eventually our curiosity won out, and we rushed to the mosque and rushed back so as to not upset our house father any further. It seems the damage had already been done as he would not stop texting his brother-in-law over and over while we were attending the service. When we got back, he asked me why we went to the mosque instead of going to the pool or some other activity. I explained that the pool is nice, but the mosque is something that is still foreign and unique to us. “Well, you will have to choose between this world, and the other one. You can’t have both,” he said.

This seems to be the attitude of most Turks – a surprising notion to a westerner. But again, considering Turkey’s long history of religiously fueled empires and its current neighboring states, it appears to be a reasonable response. More than anything, the Turks fear losing the liberties that their secular government allows them. They look to their east and see Iran, swallowed by an Islamic regime. They look to their southeast and see Iraq, swamped with religiously inspired violence. And now, they look to their southern border as well, to Syria, which may turn into the worst of the many catastrophes in the modern Middle East. The Turks have great counterexamples to their own secular government, and it causes them to hold onto it even stronger. Perhaps they value secularism over democracy itself, but perhaps that is also reasonable of them.

Scene on the streets of Konya--as we more further eastward in our trip to the more conservative and more Islam observant areas, the head scarves on the streets and minarets dotting the horizon continue to increase.