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Last modified: 2018-04-26 by ivan sache
Keywords: presidency of religious affairs | diyanet |
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Flag of Diyanet - Image by Jens Pattke, 11 November 2012
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The Presidency of Religious Affairs (Wikipedia), normally referred to simply as the Diyanet, is an official institution established in 1924 after the abolition of the Caliphate and prescribed in Article 136 of the Constitution. Founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a successor to Sheikh ul-Islam, it represents the highest Islamic religious authority in the country. As a a successor to Sheikh ul-Islam, the Diyanet is also arguably the highest authority on Sunni Islam in the Islamic world.
Jens Pattke, 11 November 2012
The flag of Diyanet (photo) is white with the Organization's emblem.
Jens Pattke, 11 November 2012
![[Flag]](../images/t/tr_tdv.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/t/tr_tdv1.gif)
Flag of TDV, current and former versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 24 February 2018
The Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı - TDV) was
established on 13 March 1975 by Dr. Lütfi Dogan, who was the President
of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) at that time, and Dr. Tayyar Altıkulaç
and Yakup Ustun, who were Vice Presidents of Religious Affairs, and
Ahmet Uzunoglu, who was the Director of Personnel Affairs.
TDV has a wide range of activities in its 1,000 branches in Turkey and
135 countries across the world ranging from educational, cultural,
social and charitable services to religious services support and
international aid activities.
TDV gives scholarships to successful students and opens higher education
student housing, student wellness homes, colleges and universities and
provides education opportunities to students form 110 countries across
the globe through projects like the International Imam Khateeb High
School (a network of five high schools located in İstanbul, Kayseri, Konya, Bursa and Sivas, educating 1,&00 students from 72 countries), the International Theology Program (established in 2006 with Diyanet), and the International Host Student Program.
TDV established in 1994 the Bornova College, where 1,200 students are
receiving education at primary, secondary and high school level, and the
İstanbul 29 May University. Educating 1,400 students at an undergraduate, masters and doctoral level, the institution is planned
to be transformed into the International Islamic University.
TDV manages dormitories for a total of 6,000 higher education students
in 15 Turkish towns. Another 373 student homes located in 40 towns house
2,500 students. TDV further established six education coordination
centers in Ankara, Kayseri, Konya and İstanbul (2).
TDV opened colleges faculties and universities in Kyrgyzstan,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Romania, Somalia and Haiti.
TDV operates charity activities, such as the Ramadan Program, and
deliver food aid packages to deprived and needy people in Turkey and
another 500 regions scattered over 88 countries via the Qurban Program,
active in 130 countries,
TDV delivers humanitarian aid to Turkmens in Syria and Iraq, Palestine/Gaza, to Rohingya people from Myanmar seeking refuge in the
camps in Bangladesh, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, Haiti, Mali<,
Central African Republic, Somalia, Chad, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
TDV founded in 1983 the Center for Islamic Religious Studies (ISAM),
whose emblematic work was the Encyclopaedia of Islam (44 volumes). TDV
also owns a network of 30 publishing houses.
[TDV presentation booklet]
The connections between the Diyanet Foundation, the Diyanet and the
Turkish state have been widely criticized, in the frame of the global
"mega-mosque" plan set up by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to export
his nation’s brand of Islam.
The Turkish Republic in 1924 founded Diyanet to oversee affairs related
to faith and worship of the religion of Islam, such as paying the
salaries of Turkish and foreign imams. The aim was to separate religion
from politics. But since Erdoğan’s AKP came to power in 2002, Diyanet has transformed into a propaganda vehicle serving and exporting Turkey’s religious society.
It is not clear how much of the financing for the Diyanet Foundation –
which needs 100s of millions of Euro to build these foreign mosques – is
from the collection plate, corporate donors or wealthy individuals. Or
indeed Diyanet itself. The foundation’s donations in 2014 were 120
million Euro, compared to 50 million Euro in 2010. This figure has
increased by almost two and a half times in four years, at a time when
the country’s growth rate tumbled from 12 per cent to two per cent. A
copy of a written answer to a parliamentary question raised in 2014,
confirms that taxpayer money was spent on the mega-mosque projects
abroad, but it does not disclose how much Diyanet transferred to its
Foundation.
[The Black Sea, 29
September 2015]
The flag of TDV (photo) is white with the organization's emblem
and the organization's name, in black letters, beneath the emblem. A slightly different flag (photo) has the writing in Turkish (dark blue), English (light blue), and Arabic script (dark blue).
Until very recently, TDV appears to have used a blue flag with the
emblem and writing in white (photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo).
Ivan Sache, 24 February 2018
