'Reluctant' Muslim? Turkish Cypriots, Islam, and Sufism
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Abstract
Scholars and other observers have often remarked upon the minimal participation of Turkish Cypriots in Muslim religious rituals. Theories to explain this have included that Turkish Cypriots are actually crypto-Christians or that they are the descendants of Alevis, a heterodox branch of Islam. This paper argues, in contrast, that the decline of Muslim religious practice began in the island in the mid-nineteenth century, with Ottoman reforms that attempted to root out the Sufi folk practices that were common in the island, particularly in rural areas. The paper shows that this institutional suppression of Sufi Islam created a fertile ground for the rise of secularist Kemalism in the 1920s and 1930s.
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Keywords
Sufi Islam, Turkish Cypriots, secularism, Kemalism, Ottoman Empire, Tanzimat
References
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Uzunçarşılı, İ.H. (1988) Osmanlı Devleti Teşkilatından Kapıkulu Ocakları [Household Troops in the Ottoman State System]. ankara: Turkish Historical Society Publications.
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Yeşilada, B. (2009) ‘Islam and the Turkish Cypriots’, Social Compass, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 46–59.
Ueşilada, B., Noordijk, P. and Webster, C. (2009) ‘Religiosity and Social Values of the Cypriots’, Social Compass, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 15–34 .
Ateşin, H.M. (1996) Kıbrıs’ta İslâmî Kimlik Dâvâsi [The Issue of Islamic Identity in Cyprus]. İstanbul: Marifet yayınları.
Bağışkan, T. (2005) Kıbrıs’ta Osmanlı-Türk Eserleri [The Ottoman-Turkish Monuments in Cyprus]. Lefkoşa: Kuzey Kıbrıs Müze Dostları Derneği yayını [Published by the North
Cyprus association of Museum Friends].
Bardakçı, M.N. (2005) ‘Bir Tasavvuf Mektebi Olarak Bektaşilik’ [Bektashism as a School of Mysticism]. Uluslararası Bektaşilik ve Alevilik Sempozyumu [International Symposium of
Bektashism and Shiism]. Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Theology, Isparta, 28–30 September.
Barens, J.R. (1987) An Introduction to Religious Foundations in the Ottoman Empire. New York: E.J. Brill.
Barkan, Ö.L. (19 2) ‘İstila Devirlerinin Kolonizatör Türk Dervişleri ve Zaviyeler’ [The Coloniser Turkish Sufis and Hermitages of the Conquest Periods], Vakıflar Dergisi [endowments
Journal], No. 2, pp. 279–304.
Beratlı, N. (1997) Kıbrıs Türklerin Tarihi [History of the Turkish Cypriot]. Lefkoşa: Galeri Kültür Yayınları.
Berkes, N. (2002) Türkiye’de Çağdaşlaşma [Modernisation in Turkey]. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Publications.
Erdoğru, M.A. (1997) ‘Kıbrıs adası’nın 1831 Tarihli Bir Osmanlı Nüfus Sayımı’ [The 1831 Ottoman Census of the Island of Cyprus], Ege Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Tarih
İncelemeleri Dergisi [ege University, Faculty of Literature, Journal of Historical Studies]. İzmir Proceedings Seventh Cultural Studies Symposium, No. 12.
Fedai, H. and Altan, M.A. (1997) Lefkoşa Mevlevihanesi [Lefkosa Mevlevi Lodge]. Ankara: TRNC Ministry of National Education, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports Publications.
Halman, T.S. and Warner, J.L. (eds) (2005) Nightingales and Pleasure Gardens: Turkish Love Poems. Translated by T.S. Halman. New York: Syracuse University Press.
Hasluck, F.W. (1921) ‘Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor’, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 51 ( July–December), pp. 310– 342.
Jennings, R.C. (199 ) Christians and Muslims in Ottoman Cyprus and the Mediterranean World, 1571–1640. New York/London: New York University Press.
Katsiaounis, R. (1996) Labour, Society and Politics in Cyprus: During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre.
Koca, Ş. (200 ) Kıbrıs’ta Bektaşi Dergahları [The Bektashi Lodges in Cyprus], 7 September 2001. available at: [http://www.cemvakfi.org.tr/makale-deneyimler/kibris-bektasi-dergahlari/],
last accessed on 6 March 2016.
Koçu, R.E. (200 ) Yeniçeriler [ Janissaries]. İstanbul: Doğan Books.
Lewis, B. (1953) ‘Some Observations on the Significance of Heresy in the History of Islâm’, Studia Islamica, No. 1, pp. 43–63.
Lewis, B. (1961) The Emergence of Modern Turkey. London: Oxford University Press.
Luke, H.C. (2006) Dans Eden Dervişler: Seyahatname [The City of the Dancing Dervishes]. İstanbul: Gri Press.
Mardin, Ş. (1983) Din ve İdeoloji [Religion and Ideology]. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Maritti, G. (1971) Travels in the Island of Cyprus, translated by C. Cobham. London: Zeno.
Nesim, A. (1987) Batmayan Eğitim Güneşlerimiz [Our education Suns That Never Set]. Lefkoşa: TRNC Ministry of National Education and Culture Publications.
Nevzat, A. (2005) Nationalism Amongst the Turks of Cyprus: The First Wave. PhD Dissertation, University of Oulu, Finland.
Ocak, A.Y. (1999) Türkler, Türkiye ve İslâm: Yaklaşım, Yöntemler ve Yorum Denemeleri [Turks, Turkey and Islam: Approaches, Methods, and Interpretative Efforts]. İstanbul: İletişim
Yayınları.
Ocak, A.Y. (2001–2002) ‘The Ottoman Empire and Islam, Framework for a New Interpretation’. The 2001-2002 Sawyer Seminar. University of Chicago.
Ortaylı, İ. (2000) Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda İktisadi ve Sosyal Değişim: Makaleler I [economic and Social Change in the Ottoman empire: essays I]. ankara: Turhan Publications.
Ortaylı, İ. (2005) İmparatorluğun En Uzun Yüzyılı [The Long Century of the Ottoman empire]. İstanbul: Alkım Yayınları.
Palmer, J.A.B. (2000) ‘yeniçerilerin Kökeni’ [The Origins of the Janissaries], in Özel, O, and Öz, M. (eds.), Söğüt’ten İstanbul’a [From Söğüt to Istanbul]. İstanbul: İmge Publications, pp.
475–516.
Poulton, H. (1997) Top Hat Grey Wolf and Crescent: Turkish Nationalism and the Turkish Republic. London: Hurst and Company.
Seager, M.B. (188 ) Reports on the Evkaf Properties. London: Cyprus Colonial Office.
Soyyer, a.y. (2005) ‘Bektaşi Tekkelerinin 1826’da Kapatılışını anlamak’ [Understanding Why the Bektashi Lodges Were Closed Down in 1826], Uluslararası Bektaşilik Ve Alevilik Sempozyumu [International Symposium on the Bektashi and alevite Faiths]. Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Theology (September).
Tambar, K. (201 ) The Reckoning of Pluralism: Political Belonging and the Demands of History in Turkey. Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press.
Uzunçarşılı, İ.H. (1988) Osmanlı Devleti Teşkilatından Kapıkulu Ocakları [Household Troops in the Ottoman State System]. ankara: Turkish Historical Society Publications.
Yavuz, M.H. (200 ) ‘Is there a Turkish Islam? The emergence of Convergence and Consensus’, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. XXIV, No. 2, (October), pp. 213–232.
Yeşilada, B. (2009) ‘Islam and the Turkish Cypriots’, Social Compass, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 46–59.
Ueşilada, B., Noordijk, P. and Webster, C. (2009) ‘Religiosity and Social Values of the Cypriots’, Social Compass, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 15–34 .
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“’Reluctant’ Muslim? Turkish Cypriots, Islam, and Sufism”. 2017. Cyprus Review 27 (2): 43-63. https://cyprusreview.org/index.php/cr/article/view/46.