TBMM Tutanaklarına Göre Arapça Ezan Yasağının Kaldırılmasına Yönelik Bir Değerlendirme

Abstract

This study covers the abolition of the ban on Arabic azan on 16 June 1950, which was imposed on 18 July 1932. The ban on reciting azan in Arabic was in fact the implication of Turkish nationalism. The Republic of Turkey, from its foundation until 1950, had adopted the policy of minimizing the effect of Islam on the state institutions as it was struggling to complete building a nation-state. For this reason, reaction to the Arabic azan was one of the most important practices of the Kemalist ideology. According to the Kemalists, every nation should have prayed in its own language. This understanding carries close similarities with Martin Luther’s translation of bible into German, believing that people should practice their religion in their own languages. Before de jure ban on 18 July 1932, the Directorate of Religious Affairs had already ordered muftis that the azan would be recited in Turkish henceforth. The decision faced serious popular opposition, and the relevant authorities began taking legal action from 1933 onward against those who did not comply with the ban. The Turkish azan had been executed between 1933-50. The longing for the azan, starting with “Tanrı uludur – God is the great” in its new Turkish version, to be recited again in its original Arabic form found a response in the politics of Democrat Party. It should be noted that it was welcomed with a popular cheer when law was proposed at TBMM for the azan to be recited again in Arabic. It is possible to see the sentiments of Democrat Party MPs, especially during the parliamentary sessions to repeal the law banning the Arabic azan. Actually, throughout the sessions, the Republican People’s Party MPs did not overreact either to the lifting of this ban. The statements by the MPs about the reasons why the ban should have been lifted are taken place in this work as well.