Islam in the Ottoman Empire
Islam was the official religion of the Ottoman Empire. The highest position in Islam, "caliphate", was claimed by the sultan, after the defeat of the Mamluks which was established as Ottoman Caliphate. The Sultan was to be a devout Muslim and was given the literal authority of the Caliph. Additionally, Sunni clerics had tremendous influence over government and their authority was central to the regulation of the economy. Despite all this, the Sultan also had a right to decree, enforcing a code called Kanun (law) in Turkish. Additionally, there was a supreme clerical position called the Sheykhulislam ("Sheykh of Islam" in Arabic). Minorities, particularly Christians and Jews but also some others, were mandated to pay the jizya, the poll tax as mandated by traditional Islam.
History of the Republic of Turkey
Aside from the Ottoman state's defeat during the First World War, there are several other factors that contributed to the emergence of the new Turkish state. These include the ethno-religious conflicts in Anatolia, which led to the destruction of the Christian population in the country, effectively making Turkey a homogeneous Muslim state. There was also the rise of the active participation of the military in politics after the First World War as shown in the so-called Young Turk Revolution in 1908. Ten years later, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) and other army officers dominated the polity that finally established the nationalist Republic of Turkey out of what was left of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was established based on the ideology found in the country's pre-Ottoman history and was also steered towards a secular political system to diminish the influence of religious groups such as the Ulema.