Presidency of Religious Affairs

Turkey's top religious body has made major changes to the duties of all of its units, while also forming a new department to focus on migration and moral support. 

Since March, funding for Bulgaria's Islamic schools, previously provided by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, has been blocked, forcing the Bulgarian Grand Mufti's office to freeze the salaries of hundreds of imams, Grand Mufti spokesperson Jelal Faik told BIRN on Thursday.

Since March, funding for Bulgaria's Islamic schools, previously provided by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, has been blocked, forcing the Bulgarian Grand Mufti's office to freeze the salaries of hundreds of imams, Grand Mufti spokesperson Jelal Faik told BIRN on Thursday.

In his daily Hürriyet column on Aug. 7, journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently instructed his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials to prepare a substantial report on the foreign links of the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ) of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

On June 31, Mehmet Gormez, a Turkish cleric who headed the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), a government department that runs more than 85,000 mosques, bid farewell to his post he had occupied since 2010. Gormez’s term didn’t end until 2020, which is why his early departure triggered a heated discussion in the media and on social media.

A draft law granting muftis and civil servants of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) the right to register and perform marriages is not a violation of secularism, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ has said, denying claims that marriages will be held at mosques. 

In an unexpected move, President Tayyip Erdoğan slammed Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) on Aug. 5. He said it had been late in detecting black holes and loops in the system, thus letting "others" sneak in "especially in the east and southeast of the country."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized Turkey's top religious body for "being late" in the struggle against the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Erdoğan said the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) was notified on the issue "countless times" but "efforts were delayed." 

Authority to register civil marriages should not be given to imams, Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya has said, commenting on a recent draft law allowing "muftis," religious civil servants within Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), to register marriages. 

The former head of Turkey's top religious body is planning to become a university rector after he resigned from his post on July 30, Hurriyet writes.