Influence or Negotiation? Religion, Pluralism and Public Policies in Italy and Turkey

Rome and Istanbul have been for centuries the seats of two of the main religious centres of the western hemisphere: the Papacy and the Caliphate, both matching spiritual and temporal power. Between the 19th and the 20th century, these institutions underwent significant changes in a context of state secularization: in the case of the Papacy, with the loss of its temporal power and the ‘reduction’ to a mainly moral authority; in the case of the Caliphate, with its abolition, to create in its place the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), a bureaucratic body under state control. Notwithstanding, today both institutions still play a significant role in the public life and also public policies of the Italian and the Turkish republics. While the Vatican is able to influence the Italian public sphere and public discourse through both its influence on common people and its lobbying activities on decision-makers, in Turkey the Diyanet has become the main tool in the reshaping of Turkish society (both by the Kemalists and, later, by Erdoğan's AKP). This paper will analyze their influence on the two countries’ public policies in relation to religious pluralism by addressing both public policies explicitly related to religion’s role in society and religious pluralism and their influence on interreligious controversies and debates; and family-related policies (such as the redefinition of genders and women’s role in Turkey and the legalization of same-sex unions in Italy) which can foster conflict between citizens with a religious and a secular worldview.