As a predominantly Muslim nation with a democratic tradition and government, Turkey has become the symbolic bridge between the democratic West and the Islamic East. Within the past decade, Turkey has embraced its unique position and now seeks to become a major player in the international community, starting in its own neighborhood. Turkey has a unique history, with both an Islamic past and a secular and democratic present. The idea that a nation with a majority Muslim population would embrace a wholly secular and democratic government was groundbreaking when Kemal Ataturk introduced the concept in the 1920’s, and it has endured for the past ninety years.
In 2001, the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP), a party with Islamist roots, took power and since that time a political shift has been taking place. The AKP’s rise to power and subsequent changes in Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy have led many observers and analysts to assert Turkey is moving away from secularism towards becoming an Islamic state, like its forbearer, the Ottoman Empire.The shift of Turkish religio-cultural phenomena can be traced as from Islamism to secularism, from secularism to pluralism and from pluralism to the revivalism of Islam. The present is identified as the transitional period from pluralism to Islamic cultural reconfiguration.However to understand the politico-cultural change of Turkey, we have to start our discussion from the historic period, especially from the period of Ottoman Turk.This paper has provided a chronological scrutiny regarding the cultural shift of the Ttate of Turkey.