title: The Development of Secularism in Turkey
author:  Niyazi Berkes 
description: "If I am asked to recommend one book on modern Turkey, this is the one I recommend. Berkes is superior to all others because he alone examines the complex relationship between economic and technical change, and political and religious developments in the transformation of Turkey from a traditional to a secular state.... Even now, Berkes offers much that is new and critical to our understanding of modern Turkey.... It would be an excellent book to teach from."<br />-Professor Feroz Ahmad, Boston University <br />
zlib_text: “Birol Bas¸kan makes a major and innovative contribution to the study of 
  secularization. His comparison of one Christian (the USSR) and two Mus-
  lim (Turkey and Iran) countries is buttressed by deep and insightful histori-
  cal research to provide empirical and analytic leverage for his penetrating 
  insights on the paths to, and ultimate limitations of, state-directed secular-
  ization. This book will become essential reading for scholars of the three 
  countries and for sociologists who study politics and religion.” 
   —Richard W. Lachmann, University at Albany
  “Theoretically reﬁ ned and empirically rich, this book examines the intersec-
  tion of religion, politics, Islam, and secularism from an innovative stand-
  point. The author separates the concepts of state, liberalism, and secularism 
  and then creatively re-assembles them. For secularism, the key in this re-
  assemble is the state-building process: secularism is not so much driven 
  by ideological commitment but material needs for sur