Response from the Secularism Assembly to caliphate supporters: We will celebrate March 3 as 'Secularism Day'!

The Secularism Assembly held a press conference in response to recent anti-secular developments in Turkey and the emergence of pro-caliphate and Islamist rhetoric.

The press conference was attended by Secularism Assembly spokespersons Umut Kuruç, Ömer Faruk Eminağaoğlu, and Secularism Assembly members Murtaza Demir, Prof. Dr. Dilek Göztok, Mustafa Gazalcı, and Prof. Dr. Ahmet Saltık.

During the meeting, the reactionary steps taken by the AKP government following the 2023 elections were addressed, noting that all values of the Republic are being liquidated and that secularism is under major attack alongside discussions of a new Constitution.

Other topics discussed included the religious indoctrination of education through the Ministry of National Education, the actions of religious sects and communities, attempts to heroize figures such as Said-i Nursi and Sheikh Said, and the calls for a caliphate and Islamist tendencies that emerged during the rally organized by the National Will Platform on January 1.

MARCH 3 DECLARED AS SECULARISM DAY

In the press conference where the Secularism Assembly called on the entire society and progressive segments to fight against these developments, it was also announced that it has been decided to celebrate March 3—the centenary of the abolition of the Caliphate and the Ministry of Sharia and Foundations, and the enactment of the Law on Unification of Education (Tevhidi Tedrisat)—as Secularism Day.

The statement made at the Secularism Assembly's press conference is as follows:

"THE COUNTRY'S PROGRESSIVE ACCUMULATION MUST RISE UP AND TIGHTEN ITS RANKS AGAINST THIS GREAT DANGER"

"Especially since the May 2023 elections, the steps taken by the political power to consolidate its new regime have accelerated. With these steps taken with the aim of completely changing the administrative, legal, and social structure of our country, secularism, which is the guarantee of social life, is being trampled upon and its clear liquidation is being targeted.

The political power, which has entered the final stretch in the process of liquidating all the fundamental values of the Republic, has become an actor in crisis issues in almost every field of the country. The authorized voices of the government, which had declared the completion of the counter-revolution process in the 100th year of the Republic with the slogan 'Target 2023', have failed to meet the schedule despite having made great progress. The 'new Constitution' debate, which they raised with great haste after starting before the 2023 general elections, is an effort to build the fundamental pillar of the regime they are trying to complete under the name of the 'Century of Turkey'.

A clear indicator of this is the crisis escalated in recent months by the Court of Cassation's refusal to recognize the Constitutional Court's rulings on rights violations regarding Hatay MP Can Atalay. This situation cannot simply be evaluated as a difference of interpretation between two judicial institutions. The fact that the most authorized voice of the political power stated that the crisis 'could be overcome with a new Constitution' reveals that this situation is directly linked to the 'new Constitution' move. The political power, which has been transforming the law into a political tool for over 20 years, aims to completely liquidate secularism and the Republic with a new Constitution.

Another leg of this process is the Civil Code. The alliance protocol signed before the election with the New Welfare Party (YRP), another branch of the National View (Milli Görüş), shows this. The statement in the protocol, 'Efforts will be focused on legal regulations aimed at weeding out provisions in existing laws that are contrary to the protection of family integrity, preventing acts and perversions contrary to our moral values, and resolving grievances regarding indefinite alimony,' is diametrically opposed to the Civil Code, which ensures the implementation of legal unity and is the symbol of secular law. It is necessary to see the integrity between this protocol, the legislative proposal submitted by the YRP to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in recent months to 'amend articles 175 and 176 of the Turkish Civil Code and add a paragraph to the end of article 176,' and the Turkish Civil Code Workshop held by the Ministry of Justice in Istanbul on January 4-5, 2024. With this, the aim is to destroy the foundation of secular law.

It is well known to all of us that a significant portion of the anti-secular and anti-Republican total in the composition of the TBMM after the May 2023 elections approaches this process positively. The statements on secularism and the Republic by relatively new figures within the government and its partner parties, or those with a political past not so far from them, are clear. The presence of HÜDAPAR, another new element in the TBMM known for its links to religious terrorist organizations, and the article in its election manifesto that is anti-Republican and anti-secular, and contrary to the Constitution, stating that 'work will be done to prepare a civil constitution that is purified from tutelage and ideology and coincides with the belief values of society,' should not be underestimated.

The area where reactionary intervention is most intense is education. It is no coincidence that Yusuf Tekin, who served as Undersecretary of the Ministry of National Education between 2013-2018, was placed in the seat of the Minister of National Education. Tekin, who does not even feel the need to hide his opposition to co-education and that he will sign protocols with extensions of sects and communities, played an important role in the establishment of the 4+4+4 imposition in education. The entry of sects and communities into schools, the proliferation of Imam Hatip schools, the entry of the headscarf into schools, and the obligation of prayer rooms were also during Tekin's undersecretariat. Taking over future generations as 'religious and vengeful generations' is of great importance in the fortification of the reactionary regime described as 'New Turkey'. The article in the protocol signed by the political power with the YRP before the election regarding education, 'It will be ensured that the National Education curriculum is made suitable for our national and moral values and that all kinds of regulations, including contrary contracts, are reviewed if necessary,' should not be overlooked. Therefore, ÇEDES, the new curriculum, and protocols made with extensions of sects and communities imposed to create generations that will pledge allegiance should be considered within this integrity.

The attempt to heroize Said Nursi, who holds the reactionary view from which many sects and communities emerged and is known for his hostility to the Republic, and Sheikh Said, who is also an enemy of the Republic and a supporter of tribes and the caliphate, and giving their names to squares and streets, are parts of the attacks made against the legitimacy of the Republic and secularism.

The reactionary and theocratic character of the regime being attempted to be established is clear. After the commander who wore a turban and robe over his uniform, sects are now openly organizing in Military Academies, and calls for Sharia are being made by opening caliphate flags in the squares of our country.

The march-rally held in Istanbul with the call of the National Will Platform, which includes many sect-community extensions and AKP-pro-government structures such as TÜGVA, where AKP Chairman Erdoğan's son is a member of the High Advisory Board, the Menzil sect extension Semerkand Foundation, and the Ensar Foundation, and attended by ministers and AKP deputies, has turned into a demonstration of caliphate, Sharia, and reactionism. The reactionary show of force, carried out under the guise of supporting Palestine, in which the London-based terrorist organization Hizb-ut Tahrir also participated under the name Köklü Değişim and subsequently published a call for the caliphate, and where caliphate flags were opened, is an effort to legitimize caliphate-ism and reactionism. It should be remembered that the opened caliphate flags are the political symbols of jihadist terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, and the Taliban.

This show of force is contrary to the Constitution and its fundamental provision, secularism, and is an open attack. The fact that no legal action has been initiated against this has once again revealed the link between the judiciary and politics in Turkey and the fundamental fact underlying the political power's goal of a new Constitution by taking advantage of the judicial crisis is the liquidation of secularism.

It should be known that calls for the caliphate are not isolated, but part of a comprehensive attack.

The legitimization of the caliphate and the trampling of secularism are unacceptable!

The Secularism Assembly has decided to celebrate March 3, the day the Caliphate and the Ministry of Sharia and Foundations were abolished and the Law on Unification of Education was enacted, as Secularism Day in its centenary.

Secularism is freedom. Secularism is citizenship. A citizen exists with their rights. The basis of an equal and free society's will to transform and change life is secularism. The liquidation of secularism, its erosion by adding adjectives before and after it, damages, weakens, and eliminates this will.

Our society, left helpless by poverty, is being sought to be taken over by reactionism. However, the progressive accumulation of our country has the will to repel this attack with resistance and to build an equal and free future on the basis of secularism.

The picture we are facing shows that the struggle for secularism is vital. Against this great danger, the country's progressive accumulation must rise up and tighten its ranks.

As the Secularism Assembly, we call on all progressive, patriotic mass organizations and citizens to join the struggle for secularism.

Let us not get used to this reactionary siege! For an equal and free country, and for future generations, let us grow the struggle for secularism together."