Religion in the Legal Systems of Turkey and Morocco

Abstract

In this Master's thesis, I plan to compare the following aspects of religious life in Morocco and Turkey: - the way religion (Islam) is regulated on the official level, - the way religious secondary education functions (imam-hatip schools in Turkey and madrasahs in Morocco), - the way women's rights are regulated. I also plan to compare the religious legislation that the Moroccan and Turkish governments have passed. In my work, I will use both primary sources such as constitutions, laws and other legal documents in their original French and Turkish languages, and also secondary sources such as books and published reports. I argue that both Morocco and Turkey have lenient and flexible systems of laws that regulate religion, and both of these countries could serve as examples of efficient governmental regulation of the religious realm. Although Turkey has been a secular country since the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, it has neither been an atheist country, nor has it ever adopted atheist policies. Turkish secularism, if it can be explained in a few words, does not only separate religion and state, it also restricts and provides freedom from religion, from certain Islamic symbols and practices in public sphere and state institutions. Turkish secularism does not prohibit practicing religion. It rather curtails the exterior symbols of religion. Morocco is a Muslim country with emerging secularist policies that are being undertaken on the official level. Moroccan King Mohammad VI tries to curb any beginnings of Islamic insurgence or radicalism. The King also tries to control the religious sphere and the meanings of religion. The Turkish government, on the other hand, tries not to associate itself with religion as it might cost it the loss of its secular and moderately religious electorate.