The Roots of Secularism in Northern Cyprus and Turkey’s Ambition of Islamization

Abstract

The conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Empire in 1571 had an impact on the growing Muslim population there. However, the majority Muslim population does not make Northern Cyprus adopt Islam as the official religion of the country. This article aims to analyze the roots of secularism in Northern Cyprus, some of which are caused by British government policies, the rise of Kemalism, the emergence of Alevism and Linobambaki, and the repression of Sufi orders at the end of Ottoman rule. Besides, the political situation in Turkey turned out to have an impact on Northern Cyprus, where Turkey sought to implement the Islamization policy there.

Securitization of Islam: A Case of Muslims in Cyprus

“…İçim Özenli Özmatyatli & Ali Efdal Özkul (2013), however, have argued that the British government intervention in the religious institutions and educational process that has contributed significantly to the secularization of Cyprus begun in 1878, the time that British administrated Cyprus for the first time. Furthermore, Ramadhan (2020) has conducted a study on the roots of secularism in Northern Cyprus and how ambitious Turkey is to implement its Islamization policy. The author found that the mentioned scholars above have only discussed the phenomena of Islam in Northern Cyprus without mentioning any phenomena of securitization on Islam in the RoC.…”