Muslim secularism in Europe : the making, unmaking and remaking of laïcité in Albania and Turkey

Abstract

How do Albanian and Turkish models of secularism, both branded after the Frenchstyle Laïcité, translate European concepts into indigenous, case-specific models? And, how have Muslim majorities reacted to, embraced but also contested the established institutional arrangements? This article explores the evolution of secular institutional arrangements adopted in Albania and Turkey since their foundation as independent states and along different time periods and political regimes. We embody the analysis into two ideal-type secular traditions – civic-republican and liberal – each proposing different political projects and related institutional arrangements within the context of European modernity. The findings suggest that since independence both countries opted for variations of the state-engineered republican model, which insists in reformation of religion, social engineering, separation between state and religion and an interventionist state. Yet, those models also took case-specific features with Albania placing specific emphasis on interreligious equality and state neutrality as a means to pacify different religious communities; and Turkey promoting a synthesis between Sunni Islam and Turkishness as the basis of national identity and social cohesion. While the ‘founding’ model has largely stuck in post-communist Albania, Islamic political actors that came to power in Turkey, particularly AKP, which governs the country since 2002, has preserved the main institutional features of the secular system, but with a more Sunni majority bent.