Madrasahs were in Turkey and elsewhere still are Muslim religious schools, especially for teaching the Shariah, or Islamic law, to the ulama, or Muslim scholars and jurists. They were famously closed down in Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1925 as a reaction to the rebellion of Sheikh Said of Palu and in an effort to promote secularization and modernity. In recent times the Turkish government has permitted Imam Hatip religious secondary schools. Strict secularists have argued that these new religious schools present a danger to the future of secular Turkey.
See also Islam.
Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Michael M. Gunter.