A Religious Administration to Secure Secularism: The Presidency of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey İştar B. Gözaydın This article is primarily concerned with an agency, the Presidency of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, which was instituted to regulate Islamic services, but in actuality was used as a means of 'securing' secularism in Turkey for over a period of 80 years. This apparent paradox in terms was the muse which led me reflect on the representation of the construction (and deconstruction) of 'modernity' and of 'state and religion' in Turkey. In order to develop my argument I focus on the legal and bureaucratic structure of the Presidency of Religious Affairs. Philipps-Universität Marburg Marburg Deutschhausstraße 9, 35037 Marburg 2007 2015-06-01 2015-06-01 Text article urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0004-2007-115-36167 eng 1418722-x 11 1 (2007) 1 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/article/download/3616/3501 10.17192/mjr.2007.11.3616 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/2007/115/3616