Presidency of Religious Affairs

Founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a successor to Shaikh al-Islam , it represents the highest Islamic religious authority in the country. It is normally referred to simply as the Diyanet . As specified by law, the duties of the Diyanet are “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshipping places”. The Diyanet had an allocated budget of 1,308,187,000 YTL or USD $0.9 Billion for the year 2006. In 1984, the Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği was opened in Germany to cater for the religious needs of the large Turkish minority there. The Diyanet has made a name for itself with a liberal interpretation of the Qur'an and the hadith . A recent example is the permission of training women as preachers. In March 2005 two women were appointed as vice- mufti in Kayseri and Istanbul . In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI travelled by car to the Diyanet, where he met with its then president, Ali Bardakoğlu , and with various Turkish Muslim leaders, among them the Grand Mufti of Ankara and the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. The Diyanet allows in vitro fertilization and birth control pills. Pope's speech at Turkey's Diyanet Pope bans, Turkey allows

Founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a successor to Sheikh ul-Islam , it is normally referred to simply as the Diyanet . As specified by law, the duties of the Diyanet are “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places”. The Diyanet had an allocated budget of 1,308,187,000 YTL or USD $0.9 Billion for the year 2006. In 1984, the Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği was opened in Germany to cater for the religious needs of the large Turkish minority there. The Diyanet has made a name for itself by using the Quran and Hadith . A recent example is the permission of training women as preachers. In March 2005 two women were appointed as vice- mufti in Kayseri and Istanbul . The Diyanet allows in vitro fertilisation and birth control pills . In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI travelled by car to the Diyanet, where he met with its then president, Ali Bardakoğlu , and with various Turkish Muslim leaders, among them the Grand Mufti of Ankara and the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. In 2012, President Abdullah Gül visited the institution and said “It is undoubtedly one of the most important duties of the Religious Affairs Directorate to teach our religion to our people in the most correct, clear and concise way and steer them away from superstition” Hata Sayfasi.

Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs "Diyanet" redirects here. In Turkey , the Directorate of Religious Affairs ( , normally referred to simply as the Diyanet ) is an official state institution established on 3 March 1924 under article 136 of the Constitution of Turkey by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a successor to the Shaykh al-Islām after the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate . As specified by law, the duties of the Diyanet are “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places”. The Diyanet drafts a weekly sermon delivered at the nation's 85,000 mosques and more than 2,000 mosques abroad that function under the directorate. It provides Quranic education for children and trains and employs all of Turkey's imams, who are technically considered civil servants. It has been criticized for ignoring the Islamic creed of the 33–40% of Turkey's population that is not Hanafi Sunni Muslim. Started from 2006 the Diyanet was "beefed up", and by 2015 its budget had increased fourfold, and staff doubled to nearly 150,000. In 2012 Diyanet TV was activated, now broadcasting 24 hours a day. It has expanded Quranic education to early ages and boarding schools – "enabling the full immersion of young children in a religious lifestyle" – and now issues fatawa on demand. According to some observers (David Lepeska, Svante Cornell ), since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, the mission of the Diyanet has changed – from one of exercising state oversight over religious affairs and ensuring that religion did not challenge the Turkish republic's "ostensibly secular identity", to that of promoting mainstream Hanafi Sunni Islam, "a conservative lifestyle at home, and projecting "Turkish Islam abroad".

Turkish state institution for religious affairs "Diyanet" redirects here. Document given by the Presidency of Religious Affairs for the mosque built by the Circassian businessman, historian and philanthropist Nahit Serbes. A typical example of a Diyanet document. The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey ( , normally referred to simply as the Diyanet ) is an official permanent state institution established in 1924 by the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk under article 136 of the Constitution of Turkey to carry out some of the administrative duties previously managed by the Shaykh al-Islām , before the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate . As specified by law, the duties of the Diyanet are “to administer the affairs related to faith and worship of the religion of Islam”. The Diyanet drafts a weekly sermon delivered at the nation's 85,000 mosques and more than 2,000 mosques abroad that function under the directorate. It provides Quranic education for children and trains and employs all of Turkey's imams, who are considered civil servants. Starting from 2006, the Diyanet was fortified, by 2015 its budget had increased four-fold, and staff doubled to nearly 150,000. Its 2019 budget has been estimated at €1.7 billion ($1.87 billion), far exceeding that of most Turkish government ministries. It has 1,000 branches across Turkey and offers educational, cultural, and charitable activities in 145 countries. Diyanet TV was launched in 2012, now broadcasting 24 hours a day. It has expanded Quranic education to early ages and boarding schools – "enabling the full immersion of young children in a religious lifestyle" – and now issues fatwa ( ) on demand.