As one of the biggest impositions of the one-party period of the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish adhan, which did not welcomed by the public but was implemented for 18 years, was first read in Turkish in the Fatih Mosque on January 30 of 1932.

Şeref Yaşar, who lives in the Palu district of Elazig, one of the witnesses of the era in which adhan was read in Turkish, stated that he lived during the years when İsmet İnönü was prime minister.

Reminding that it was forbidden to read adhan in Arabic at that time and that imams had to forcibly read adhan in Turkish, Yaşar said: “Today, muezzins start  to read adhan with the name of ‘Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar’, but at that time, ‘Tanrı uludur, Tanrı uludur, Tanrı'dan yok başka tapacak’. In the period of İsmet Pasha, who is known as the national chief, men were forbidden to wear Islamic headdress and women to wear chadri and to cover their faces with veils. The tombs of Islamic saints (awliya) were demolished. However, they could not demolish the tomb of Hacı Yasin Efendi. In order to demolish the tomb of Haci Yasin Efendi, they took a soldier over the tomb. A soldier climbed on the tomb to demolish the tomb of Hacı Yasin Efendi. As soon as the soldier on the tomb hit the first pickaxe to demolish the tomb, he fell down from the tomb. After this incident, no one dared and hit a pickaxe in the tomb. I personally saw that.”

“They turned madrasas and mosques into prisons and barns”

Yaşar said, “Mosque imams could not teach the Quran. Security forces used to raid the places where the Quran was read. They used to take the people who gave the Quran lesson or those who had the Quran lessons to the courts and sentenced them. They turned mosques into prisons and barns. Women with chadri, who had to work in vineyards and gardens, went to vineyards and gardens at night because they could not go out during the day. In the period of the national chief, poverty rate were very high in the society. Those before us could only buy bread with certificate / scorecard. Anybody could buy bread in accordance with the number of individuals in their family. I had to get permission from the municipality to buy supplies from Sümerbank, so I could do my shopping.”

ILKHA