To lead is to create a climate in which a human being and community flourish together. In trying to achieve this, a leader should be conscious of the ambivalent feelings of people and mindful of how to restore them. As a woman in a position of authority in a setting where there was a structural lack of recognition of women in leadership,…

Turkey is the only country that has twice lost cases concerning the violation of parents' freedom to ensure their children an education in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This article firstly seeks to present these court cases. It then moves to the official responses…

In today's Turkey under the Justice and Development administration, it seems that religion becomes or is imposed as an important element of the Turkish national identity. The education system works as the channel for promoting this change. Thus, the case of Turkey is that of a nation-state that has been under construction since it emerged from a…

Islam with all aspects which affects the soul, heart, body, and the every section of your daily life is the last divine religion. Our religion commands to protect our mental and physical health. So it set many orders and recommendations and rules for protection and develop our body. In this study, it was aimed to examine the place of sport in the…

The "Gülen Movement," a global network and religious community revolving the Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, has become a topic of political discourses in worldwide media since the coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Earlier, it was particularly known for its worldwide education activities. The article discusses first results of a…

In this country report on Turkey, Abdurrahman Hendek provides a clear, comprehensive and up-to-date account of religious eduction (RE) in Turkey. A state which seeks to be both 'religious' and 'secular' is a useful corrective to those thinking of the two as opposites and illustrates the Commission on RE's stress on the importance of interrogating…

The Oghuz Turks being in existence for many a millenia in Central Asia has a rich cultural heritage conveyed from generation to generation through oral tradition. The "Book of Dede Korkut" discovered in 1815 in Dresden Royal Library by H. F. von Diez sheds light to an important part of that culture. That precious historic literary…

This contribution is focusing on the question: "In what way is the issue of religious education in general and Islamic religious education in particular articulated in Europe and in Turkey, and what can be learned from the respective articulations for the interreligious dialogue?" In the first section, the historical context is presented…

Turkish religious education's focus on religion from a social science and prescriptive Islamic perspective faces challenges today. This article presents a new model and approach that assists students in exploring their beliefs and values, those of others, and their Islamic heritage from an interdisciplinary worldview perspective. (Contains 2…

This paper presents findings from 11 in-depth interviews with Turkish undergraduate students, who were, by the time of data collection, about to spend a semester at a European university under the Erasmus exchange scheme. The students all agreed to be interviewed about their feelings about studying in a foreign culture, and were found to be…

The purpose of this article is to discuss the ways in which the social, political and cultural foundation of the headscarf as a symbol affects the nature and practice of educational life. It will examine the ways in which the headscarf practice is constructed in the public sphere. In order to understand the headscarf practice in Turkey the nature…

Literary sociology is a multifaceted process of analyzing texts. It moves beyond traditional literary criticism to incorporate such varied approaches as: appreciating literary schemata; textual analysis; seeking form, sound, and content regularities; examining the lasting values of the work; and contemplating the reader's own authentic life-world…

The chapters in this volume do not represent the whole of the Middle East and North Africa, as such a collection would have been too large for one volume. Rather, the selection here is intended to present different perspectives on a range of educational issues, relevant to a particular focus or country, or common to a number of countries in the…