ABSTRACT
Despite the secular appearance of the public space and the state discourse in modern Turkey, this contribution shows the interpenetration or ambivalence of the secular and the religious both within the state and society during two phases of the Republican period. Contrary to an apparent conflict and polarization between the laicité (secularism) and religion, it is argued that there is continuity and even complementarity between the two. The “old” Kemalist regime, founder of the “new” nation, or the “new regime” of the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), called “Islamist”, are above all “religious” and “secular” at the same time. In both cases, religion in various forms of worship, always in harmony with nationalism, has been instrumentalized by the ruling elites. This nationalism is analysed through the cultural and emotional practices in reference to the sacred.
