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Turkey: Controlling Religion in a Secular Country
The founders of modern Turkey thought the best way to keep Islam from competing with government was to take it over. Now critics say the country’s president is using his power not to control religion, but to promote the religion of the majority: Sunni Islam.

Mustafa Akyol, author of the book Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty 
Susanne Güsten, Mercator IPC Fellow with the Istanbul Policy Center

Our story was produced by Dalia Mortada, with help from Jocelyn Frank, Jonathan Miller and Laura Kwerel. 
Dalia Mortada
Turkey: The Rise of Sunni Religious Schools
This fall, Turkish media reports that as many as 40,000 non-Sunni students were automatically enrolled in Turkey's new crop of state-run Sunni schools. An Alevi Muslim student named Fatma was almost one of them. From Istanbul, Dalia Mortada brings us the story of Fatma and her family, who were faced with few options for high school.

Pictured: Fatma's mother prepares breakfast before her daugher's two-hour journey to the nearest secular school in town.

Reported by Dalia Mortada, with production help from Jocelyn Frank and Jonathan Miller

Celil Refik Kaya
Turkey: In the Studio with Guitarist Celil Refik Kaya
Celil Refik Kaya was born in Turkey and moved to Austin, Texas, to study classical guitar when he was 19. He’s also a master of the rebab, a three-stringed instrument that’s played with a bow. He came to the studio to play for us, and to explain how music can connect the listener and performer to the divine.

Celil Refik Kaya, Turkish musician and composer