Uzlaşma, Çatışma ve Pazarlık: Türkiye’de “Dindar Olmayan” Bir Yaşam Sürmenin Siyaseti (*)

In a society like Türkiye, where Islamic values and practices are embedded in the culture, living a life far from religion or abandoning Islam is not only a matter of faith. This situation is closely related to sharing a common culture, belonging, and socialization processes. Especially for individuals who grow up in a religious family and environment, the process becomes more complex and sometimes painful. Contextual characteristics necessitate a different perspective both on the nonreligion conceptual approaches put forward in the United States and Western countries in recent years and on the experiences of individuals in their daily lives. This article explores how “nonreligious” individuals position themselves within social relations, in other words, how they interact with the cultural and social structure while living a life “far from religion.” A qualitative study was conducted in seven provinces using qualitative research methods supported by TUBITAK, where the experiences of individuals were investigated. The article examines and discusses the interactions that individuals enter into within the theoretical framework of social interaction and daily life under the titles of compromise, conflict, and bargaining, also taking into account their family background and the relationship with their social space. For many participants, two or even three of these types of interactions coexist during the process, sometimes simultaneously, but since most of the participants grew up in more religious and conservative families, situations that I will call “necessary compromise” or “affective compromise” are more common, and these positions will be discussed more in the article. I claim that in all these variable positions, with some exceptions, the concept of “respect” comes to the fore, and therefore, despite deep differences and divisions, trying to live together within the framework of “respect” is the main motivation.