Latest news with #Diyanet
DW
06-07-2025
- Business
- DW
Turkey ramps up political influence in the Western Balkans – DW – 07/06/2025
Turkey hopes to expand its influence by investing in infrastructure and religious landmark buildings across the Western Balkans. Building mosques are part and parcel of Ankara's geopolitical agenda, observers say. With a height of 50 meters (160 feet) and space for around 8,000 worshippers, the Namazgah mosque in Albania's capital Tirana is one of the most impressive Islamic places of worship in the Western Balkans. It was partly funded with around €30 million ($34 million) by the Turkish religious authority Diyanet. Its architectural inspiration is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. In October 2024, after a construction period of around ten years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to Tirana for the inauguration of the mosque. While there, he signed an agreement to cooperate with Albania on agriculture and education, and donated a number of Turkish-made drones to the country. Diyanet also secured influence on the board of the new mosque and a Turkish imam was appointed, which was cause for dismay among Albanians. "The Namazgah mosque shows how Turkey is acting as a regional power in the Western Balkans, and working to increase its influence by building places of worship," Nathalie Clayer, a social scientist at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, told DW. The construction of mosques as a means to project soft power is also closely linked with furthering economic, political and military interests, she explained. "But local actors do have room to maneuver, and they use it," Clayer added. However, even if a mosque is built with external funding, the initiative usually begins with local communities, who also cover part of the costs. In the case of representative religious buildings in capital cities, the interests of national and external players are additionally taken into consideration, as Clayer pointed out. "A country's prestige, the needs of the Muslim community, national self-assurances, assertions made with respect to other religions: these are all factors that play a role in the construction of a place of worship and in the choice of architectural models," she told DW. Nowadays, Turkey is the leading nation in terms of funding new mosques in the Western Balkans. However, this was not the case in the first years following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. In 1995, Saudi Arabia was the main sponsor for the reconstruction of mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina that had been destroyed during the war. It was only in the wake of Erdogan's rise to power in 2002 and 2003 that Turkey increasingly took the lead. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has increasingly withdrawn under the country's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Many Saudi-funded mosque projects have been handed over to local partners. Bin Salman has instead prioritized the restoration of historic mosques in Saudi Arabia, and the preservation of its own cultural heritage. It's all part of his Vision 2030, a set of reforms that prioritizes economic and social changes in Saudi Arabia. Turkey regards itself as the heir of the Ottoman Empire and stresses its claim to regional power. This claim goes beyond religion, as Rebecca Byrant, an expert in cultural anthropology at Utrecht University, explained. According to her, funding the construction of mosques is just one element of Turkish infrastructure policy, not only in the Western Balkans, but also in the Caucasus, Central Asia, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The construction of mosques must therefore to be viewed in a wider geopolitical context, the expert said. Whether railroad lines, ports, hotels or shopping districts: Turkish investors are on the move in a big way from Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Batumi in Georgia, from Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus and Senegal. The futuristic skyline of Astana, for instance, was mainly realized by Turkish construction companies, according to Bryant. Many tenders went to construction companies with direct ties to Erdogan. Bryant calls this form of political influence "infrastructure imperialism." Mega-projects such as in the Turkish-controlled part of northern Cyprus, where Erdogan inaugurated a complex comprising the presidential palace, parliament building, large hotels and a mosque (which had not yet been completed at the time of the inauguration) in May 2024 are "geopolitical places where Turkey expresses its ideas about the future," as Bryant explained. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In her view, Erdogan is drawing on ethnic, religious or historical similarities and using rhetoric about "a common destiny" that links Turkey with these countries. The projects were intended to signal that "we are the future. We are more modern than the West," Bryant said.
DW
15-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Turkish authority granted power to censor Quran translations – DW – 06/15/2025
Concerns about religious freedom in Turkey have been growing since early June, when a new law gave the Diyanet the right to ban translations of the Quran that do not comply with its interpretation of Islam. Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs, known as the Diyanet, is one of the country's most influential authorities. According to its own figures, it employs over 140,000 people and offers religious services in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1924, the Diyanet has reported directly to Islamic-conservative president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2018. Its annual budget of around €3 billion ($3.47 billion) also exceeds those of several ministries, including the Ministry of Interior. The Diyanet manages 90,000 mosques across the country, organizes Quran courses, cultural events and annual pilgrimages, and coordinates slaughters for the Feast of Sacrifice. It also trains imams and deploys them both at home and abroad. Its foundation is active in 150 countries and reaches millions of people through educational programs and scholarships worldwide. The Quran is written in Arabic. Translations are essential to making the text accessible to millions, including those in Turkey Image: Godong/Imago Images New authority over Quran translations In recent years, the Diyanet's powers have expanded. Most recently, a new law that went into effect on June 4 granted the authority to interpret translations of the Quran. If these "do not correspond to the basic characteristics of Islam," they may be banned. "Problematic copies" that have already been published can be confiscated and destroyed. This also applies to digital texts, audio, and video recordings online. Previously, President Erdogan had granted this authority by decree, which allowed the Diyanet to classify some translations as "untruthful." But the decree was struck down by the Constitutional Court. But the new law has ensured that the Diyanet's power would indeed be constitutional. Critics allege censorship In Muslim-majority countries, heads of state regularly invoke Islam to justify their actions. For example, in Iraq, the once secular Saddam Hussein used religious tenets to justify his autocratic measures and war with Iran. In Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of using the push for more religious openness as an excuse to crack down on his political opponents. And as the Middle East Institute has noted, Erdogan's political party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, "maintains the loyalty of its base through a historical narrative of religion and nationalism." Now theologians critical of the government allege that Turkey's new law amounts to censorship, calling it state-enforced Islam that endangers religious freedom. For well-known theologian Sonmez Kutlu, it is a declaration of bankruptcy by the state. A country with over 100,000 Diyanet employees and more than 100 theology faculties should be able to protect the Quran from allegedly problematic translations via intellectual and scientific methods rather than bans, he says. He also warns that publications containing translated verses that allegedly "contradict the fundamental characteristics of Islam" could also lead to investigations and prosecutions. The Quran translation by Ihsan Eliacik has already been classified as 'problematic' and banned. Eliacik is one of the theologians who are critical of the Diyanet Image: ANKA Theologian Ihsan Eliacik sees the Diyanet's new authority as a fundamental violation of the faith. "In Islam, no institution is allowed to stand between people and Allah. However, the Diyanet's review of the Quran for 'truthfulness' does exactly that," he says. Eliacik's own translation of the Quran was previously banned by the Diyanet. He appealed to the Constitutional Court and won. But under the new legal provisions, taking action like this is no longer possible. Religious orders gain influence In recent years, Eliacik, Kutlu and other theologians critical of the government have repeatedly been the target of smear campaigns by pro-government brotherhoods and Islamist orders. Omer Ozsoy, theology professor at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, suspects the growing influence on the government from these religious orders is behind the new law. "These circles have been openly opposing academic, critical and pluralistic theology at Turkey's Islamic theological faculties for around a decade," Ozsoy says. He has observed how they "have been conducting systematic campaigns against high-profile theologians for some time." Ozsoy fears that the new law could be broadly applied with repressive and politically motivated interpretations. "Translator colleagues report that the Diyanet has already prepared to impound a total of 12 translations, including those by Mustafa Oztürk and Edip Yuksel," he adds. Opinion research institute KONDA reports that the proportion of people in Turkey who describe themselves as religious has fallen from 55% in 2018 to 46% today Image: Shady Al-Assar/ZUMA/picture alliance The role of translations The Quran is written in Arabic. Translations of Islam's holy book are essential to making the texts accessible to millions of people. However, they also contain interpretations, especially in the case of ambiguous words or passages, making them a sensitive topic. The importance of Quran translations in non-Arabic-speaking countries such as Turkey has increased in recent years. In the past, explained Ozsoy, "it was up to religious scholars to deal with the Quran." Today, however, things are different, he said. "Today, lay believers read the Quran directly and interpret it independently," adding that this is due to critical thinking and the emergence of various movements and social currents. According to Ozsoy, the number of Turkish Quran translations has increased in recent decades. Among the translators there are many without professional qualifications. This problem is widely discussed among experts and there is extensive academic literature on the subject. Observers suspect the influence of Islamist orders behind the new law. Here, President Erdogan visits the Ismail-Aga order in Istanbul in 2020 Image: ANKA More non-believers Religion has become a focal point of Turkish social discourse. Young people in particular are engaged in reading scripture and questioning many theories — a cause for concern within the government. President Erdogan has emphasized repeatedly that he wants to raise a "pious generation." However, recent studies by the opinion research institute KONDA show the opposite: The proportion of people who describe themselves as religious has fallen from 55% in 2018 to 46% now, while the proportion of atheists or non-believers has risen from 2% to 8% in the same period. This article was originally written in German.
