Islamophobia has been in the veins of the post-Ottoman Turkish republican regime since it was established in 1923. Many founders of the Republic of Turkey were secularist-positivists who held deep reservations about the institution of religion, especially organized Islam. Hence, they employed immense pressure (open and covert) to cleanse religion from public and even private life in this majority Muslim nation. Centuries-old Islamic missions were banned. At one point, teaching the Muslim holy book the Qur’an was illegal. Religious lifestyles often resulted in job and promotion denial, or even expulsion, in some key government institutions, such as the military.
