Pavel Shlykov.Waqfs in Turkey: Transformation of the Traditional Institution

Waqfs in Turkey: Transformation of the Traditional Institution by Pavel Shlykov.

 

 

 

 

During the last decades political history of Turkey has demonstrated a steady tendency of strengthening of Islamist political parties and organisations in the country's social life. In the "most westernized" Muslim country (how Turkey is sometimes called) instead of gradual loosening of the influence of the religion within the process of modernization and formation of institutions of the civil society, Islamic norms — as it used to be — still greatly influence interpersonal and political relations. Along with the growth of importance of the Islamic factor in the political and social life of Turkey (since the end of the 1940s) the process of reanimation of institutional bases of Islam began. One of those basic Islamic institutions were waqfs and the waqf system with a long history of existence which goes back to the first centuries of Islam and the early Islamic tradition of giving alms (sadaka).
Waqf is not only a religious and judicial institution but also a very important social and economic category which even nowadays hasn't lost its significance in the Islamic societies. From the times of their formation in the 8th century, waqfs had been playing a very important role in the formation and functioning of the Islamic societies. For centuries waqfs had been determining a considerable part of social, economic and religious life. Their influence was based on the fact that they assumed a part of governmental functions in the social sphere and when waqfs had widely spread in different regions of the Islamic world they proved to be able to satisfy individual, group and state needs. These facts can somehow explain the remarkable viability and longevity of waqfs, in particular, Turkish waqfs which became one of the traditional Islamic institutions that despite the shock of Kemalist Revolution (confiscation of a large number of waqf properties, considerable toughening of waqf laws, attempt of the state to "secularize" waqfs and place them in service of the state interests etc.) managed not only to survive but also to preserve potentially strong positions in different spheres of the country's social life.
Public and scientific interest in the problems of the waqfs is determined by the fact that during the last decades social sciences started to devote much more attention to the development of civil society and its institutions — social movements, political parties, labours and first of all different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) — i. e. social structures which provide infrastructure for self-expression of individuals, collectives and other social communities. As a matter of fact, waqfs can be considered as an analogue of NGOs which provide the opportunity to carry out charitable activities in the interests of the society as a whole as well as to the benefit of particular groups and categories of that society. And in Turkey quite different social groups — radical Islamists as well as strong defenders and partisans of secular state — use waqfs as an instrument of self-expression and activity (the main substantial characteristic of a waqf).
Chronologically the research comprises the period from the 1920s — the times of the formation of the Republic of Turkey and the beginning of the Kemalist Reforms, up to the present days (a certain landmark is 2008 when the new waqf law was adopted which finished the last period of the waqf institution reformation). At the same time in order to reconstruct the whole situation, present full-scaled picture and show the fundamental reformation of the waqf institution one cannot omit to pass the problems of the role waqfs played in the Ottoman Empire and their evolution at the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th centuries.
A complex of problems dealing with the organization and functioning of waqfs in Turkey is placed in the center of the attention of the research. The author aimed to examine comprehensively the development of waqfs within more than 80-year-long period (from the 1920s up to the 2000s), to analyze legal and virtual state of waqf institutions in different periods of the Turkish history (in the times of Kemalist Revolution and one-party regime, in the period of transition to the multi-party system, in the years of the Second and Third Republic which were marked by the revival of Islamist political organizations), to comprehend and interpret the evident and latent potential, historical and socio-political dimensions of waqfs, to make an attempt to trace the vector of evolution and transformation of traditional religious and charitable institutions, and to expose the possible tendencies of the future development of the waqf institution and its impact and influence on the social life in Turkey.
Chapter One called "Social and Historical Bases of Waqfs" contains a comprehensive survey and analysis of the existing concepts of the formation and development of waqfs. In this chapter the author discusses and analyzes economical, religious, cultural and socio-phi-losophical factors of the wide spread of waqfs in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Times. A special attention is devoted to the arguments of the complementary character of these factors which determined the universal ability of waqfs to adapt to the individual, group and state needs as well as the longevity of the existence of the waqf institutions.

In the first chapter the author also considers in detail the socio-economic dimensions of waqfs in the Ottoman Empire and their place in the social life of the country in the particular periods of its history. One part of the first chapter is dedicated to the problems of reformation and submission of waqfs to the state. In that paragraph the author describes the dynamics of this process and exposes the main characteristics of the Ottoman state policy towards waqfs. In the last section of the chapter the author analyzes the situation in the waqf system at the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th centuries, in which one can see the prerequisites to the radical reforms of the waqf system during the Kemalist Revolution.
Chapter Two bears the name "Waqfs in the Times of the Kemalist Revolution and in the Period of the First Republic" and discusses different aspects of the existence of waqfs in the 1920s and 1940s. This chapter focuses on the evident and latent reasons and consequences of the alterations and change in the perception of waqfs within Ottoman state and society, the formation of the new system of administration and control over waqfs, the strategy of the "secularization" of waqfs and alienation of waqf properties together with the establishement of the special commission for liquidation of waqfs. All these questions are discussed and considered in the close connection with the socio-political process, as a part of large-scale program of Kemalist modernization and westernization of Turkey, the plans to transform it into a modern state. In the chapter the author pays much attention to the specific and concrete manifestation of Kemalist policy towards waqfs: nationalization of cultural and educational properties and institution of waqfs, the closure and abolishment of tekkes and zawiyas and expropriation of their properties, optimization of the number of mosques, redistribution of waqf lands and planned auction sale of waqf estates and properties.
Chapter Three, named "The Revival of the Waqf System and Their New Role in the Modern Turkish Society", is dedicated to the problems of restoration of waqfs in the Republic of Turkey which was determined by a complex of different factors that reflected deep changes in the international and domestic politics of Turkey after the end of the Second World War (reorganization of the political system, transition to the multiparty system and weakening of the "Kemalist regime", rise of the liberal tendencies and strengthening of the national capital, acquaintance with the European and American philanthropic foundations, reinforcement of the religious and conservative circles etc). In this chapter the author considers in detail the establishment and development of the sector of "new waqfs" after the adoption of the waqf law in 1967, analyzes the socio-economical and political reasons for the rapid development of waqfs in the 1970s and 1990s. A special part of the chapter is devoted to such an important subject of the new waqf system as "Third Sector Foundation of Turkey" (TUSEV) which facilitated the strengthening of waqfs in Turkey and rise of their influence on the social and political life of the country. In this chapter the author also pays a lot of attention to the seamy side of the revival of waqfs in Turkey — the emergence in the 1970s and 1990s of a considerable number of waqfs which financed different Islamists organizations and conduced the reislamisation of Turkish society. In the final section of the third chapter the author analyzes the reform of the waqf laws in the second half of the 2000s and some new tendencies in the development of the waqf institution and their relation with the estate and society.
In the Conclusion to the book the author sums up his ideas and observations of the development of waqfs in Turkey which allow rethinking and reconsidering some established stereotypes towards the waqf institutions. The modern situation in the waqf sector, multidimen-sionality and ambiguity of contemporary waqfs in Turkey reflects somehow the "separatedness" of the Turkish society in accordance with the political and ideological lines as well as a conceptual "synthesis" of the external orientations of the country.

 

Pavel Shlykov.Waqfs in Turkey: Transformation of the Traditional Institution, Moscow: the Mardjani Publishing House, 2011,ISBN 978-5-903715-39-8