Abstract:

Republican People’s Party (CHP), founder of modern Turkey, is the political party that remained in the power in the longest time. With the decisions it took, it determined the future and position of Turkey. Ordinary and great meetings, at which the road map of the party was determined, are vitally important in term of Turkish history of policy. The subject of this article is the change in secularism discourse that began in 1940’s and crystallized in 1947 Ordinary Meeting of CHP and reflections of this change on political life. The purposes of the study are to assess the change experienced since 1945 in democratization perspective; to interpret transformation of secularism that is the dominant factor of religion policy of Turkey in context of historical data; and to set forth the results of change of political system and religion policy that become democratic obligation. In the first section of the study, democratization process realized from 1945 to 1947 and effect of this process on secularism understanding; in the second section, importance of the Seventh Ordinary Meeting in terms of democratization and secularism discussions experienced for the first time and in the third section, change and results of change are discussed. This study is based upon the minutes of the Seventh Ordinary Meeting of 1947. In this article, in context of the Seventh Ordinary Meeting of CHP, the passing process from oppressive secularism to liberal secularism experienced in the single party period will be examined.

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