Dynamic changes are underway in the Middle East. Turkey has taken a leading role in these transformations as a model for the future. A study of elements of the history of Turkey’s modern condition is in order, especially the transition from the Ottoman state. In this essay, I briefly focus the analysis on the Western history and Turkey, with regard to the relation of religion and secularism comparing both to Turkey and nations in the West. Turkey and Japan are two nations which escaped colonial conquest and domination. The role of this escape and the means of defining or measuring the degree of influence of religion is discussed. Here the role of Mustafa Kemel Ataturk is central as is the example of Japan in the 16th to 20th centuries. I also examine these problems and the related idea of the conflict of cultures that so profoundly undermines the means of securing a constructive international dialogue on the crisis of our times.