ABSTRACT
Most of the Islamic states where religion has recently come to exert greater political power are once part of the Turkish or Ottoman Empires. The Turkish or Ottoman Empires are never coterminous with Islam, or with the Caliphate the Islamic state or nation established after the death of the Prophet. Since the Caliphate, religious leadership has not been concentrated, and Turkey has not had a religious leader with wide popular appeal or significant political influence. The nearest parallel has been Necmettin Erbakan, a politician with a readiness to use religion as a political weapon. The network of religious training schools is expanded, closer relations are established with other Islamic countries, and Turkey participated in Islamic summit meetings. Muslims are assisted in making the pilgrimage to Mecca, a record 106,000 going in 1974. Kemal Ataturk erected a secular superstructure over the infrastructure of a sectarian Turkey, and in the intervening years both the superstructure and infrastructure have penetrated each other.
