Some 80 years after Ataturk suppressed the Caliphate and veered brutally the nation away from its religious roots, Turkey is in the process of redefining its Islamic identity, while jealously preserving its secular and democratic nature.

Pilgrimages to shrines dedicated to local saints, a new curiosity for Islamic and Arabic studies, construction of numerous new mosques, the wearing of the scarf or the veil by an ever increasing number of women are some aspects of this redefinition.

The Turkish state, symbolised by the ever present Turkish flag as well as Ataturk's portraits and statues,...