In Turkey, an İmam Hatip school (, 'hatip' coming from Arabic khatib) is a secondary education institution. As the name suggests, they were founded in lieu of a vocational school to train government employed imams; after madrasas in Turkey were abolished by the Unification of Education Act (). History During the Ottoman Empire, a key objective of education was to raise 'good Muslims'. Thus there was a need for Islamic scholars, which was sustained through Islamic Theology Schools, called Madrasa. In 1913, the Medresetü-l Eimmeti vel Hutaba (School of ministers and preachers, ) and Medresetü-l Vaazin (Schools for Preachers, ) were combined to form the tangible origins of today's Imam Hatip high schools. In 1924, the Tevhid-i Tedrisat (Law of Unification of Educational Instruction, ) was passed, replacing the existing, mostly sectarian educational system with a secular, centralist and nationalist education one. The new law brought all educational institutions under the control of the Ministry of National Education. A Faculty of Theology at the Darülfünun (Istanbul University), special schools for training imams and hatips (ministers and preachers) were opened by the new Ministry of National Education. In 1949, there was the establishment of a Faculty of Theology at the University of Ankara. First steps for the establishment of special Imam Hatip schools began in 1951 under the Democrat Party government, which set up seven special secondary schools (Imam Hatip Okulları). In addition, in 1959 Islamic Institutes were opened for graduates of Imam Hatip schools. Following the coup d'etat in 1960, Imam Hatip schools encountered the threat of closure. Following the return to civilian politics and the introduction of the new constitution in 1961, graduates of Imam Hatip schools could only enrol in university programmes if they had passed courses offered at secular schools. During the premiership of Süleyman Demirel however, graduates of Imam Hatip schools were given access to university without such requirements. The 1971 Turkish coup d'état introduced two key reforms: firstly junior high Imam Hatip schools were abolished, and in 1973 Imam Hatip schools were renamed as Imam Hatip high schools. Under the subsequent National Education Basic Law, Imam Hatip schools were defined as vocational schools, where students were to be trained as preachers and ministers or prepared for higher education. Imam Hatip schools grew slowly at first, but their numbers expanded rapidly to 334 during the 1970s. The coalition government of 1974, established by the CHP and