Islam in Turkey

The former chairman of the Alevi Bektaşi Federation, an umbrella organization of the Alevi community in Turkey, has criticized references of cemevis in the latest curriculum presented by the Education Ministry, which do not describe cemevis as a house of worship.

The head of Turkey’s top religious body, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), will build an education center in Soğuk Su National Park in Ankara.

The head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has called on the Muslim world to reunite, lamenting the race and denominations-based divisions of recent years.

The head of Turkey’s top religious body, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), began a trip to the U.S., visiting the Turkish embassy and Georgetown University in Washington on Jan. 10.

Forcing children into marriage can have no religious or scientific legitimacy, Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) stated on Jan. 5 via sermons read during Friday prayers in mosques across the country, amid a heated debate over the Diyanet’s stance on the matter.

If a man refers to his wife as “mother” or “sister,” their marriage will be deemed divorced, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) said in a fatwa issued on its official website on Dec. 25.

Imams across Turkey will be preaching against employing unregistered workers, according to a presentation made at a conference organized by the Social Security Organization (SGK) and the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in the southern province of Antalya on Dec. 19.

The Constitutional Court on Dec. 13 unanimously rejected a local court’s demand to cancel a regulation in the Civil Servants Law banning Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) personnel from involvement in politics.

Turkey’s top religious body, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), has issued a fatwa on games of chance, stating that purchasing national lottery tickets are considered gambling and that it is forbidden by Islam.

Turkey’s top religious body, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), has issued a fatwa on divorce, stating that couples may get divorced via telephone call, fax, letter, text message or internet.