#### The Attempt to Uproot Islam

The Attempt to Uproot Islam

Indeed, 1925 had seen the start of twenty-five years of an absolute despotism which descended on Anatolia at the very moment of its liberation. By supreme effort its people had driven out the enemies who had seized their land and threatened their existence. Now it was becoming clear that one of those who had led them in that struggle and subsequently established himself as the nation's leader in Ankara intended to root up the very values they had sacrificed themselves to preserve, their religion, Islam, and replace it with those of their eternal enemies. This could be done only by force. His purpose was to make Turkey into a Western-style state, so had to uproot one complete way of life together with everything that made it what it was, and impose an alien one. For centuries the Turkish people had carried the banner of the Islamic world, to be a Turk was to be a Muslim, every corner of Anatolia bore the traces of their forefather's religion, every part of its soil had been watered by their blood. Now, in order to remove all obstacles to Westernization, the intention was to distance them from Islam, to make them forget their religion, to sever all their links with the past. How could this be done other than by force, by despotism, by rooting out the very heart of the Turkish nation?

The drive to bring this about began soon after the victory in the War of Independence, and proceeded on all fronts. One after the other the institutions and marks of Islam were abolished or banned, and replaced by imported Western models. First the power of the 'ulema, still considerable, which also constituted a possible threat, was removed. The Caliphate, the Office of Şeyhü'l-İslam, and Ministry of the Shari'a were all abolished; and the religious schools, the medreses, were closed. This all occurred in 1924 before Bediuzzaman visited Istanbul on his way to exile.

Following the Shaykh Said Revolt in 1925, with the new dictatorial powers afforded the government by the Law for the Maintenance of Order mentioned above a law was passed providing for the closure of all dervish lodges, Sufi convents, and tombs of saints, and for the disbanding of the Sufi orders, in addition to banning their meetings and special dress. [^38]

[^38]:B. Lewis, Emergence of Modern Turkey, 266.

Later the same year it was announced that the people of Anatolia should dress in a "civilized" manner, that is, according to Western fashion. Religious dress was banned, and the famous Hat Act of November 1925 stated that all men should wear European-style hats making the wearing of all other headgear a criminal offence. These decrees provoked outraged reac-