Transformation of the Turkish Diyanet both at Home and Abroad: Three Stages

Abstract

This articles focuses on the historical evaluations of Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (the Diyanet) since its foundation and tries to explain the importance of some of the substantial turning points of Turkey’s history on the operasonalisations of the Diyanet both at home and abroad. Therefore, it seeks answers of these very fundamental research questions; What is the significance of the Diyanet in terms of both state and religion relations, and politics in Turkey? What are the differences of the Diyanet’s impact and functions compare to its foundation period? Why and how does Turkey use the Diyanet as a foreign policy tool? How does the Diyanet’s influence differ in foreign countries’ contexts? What factors determine the Diyanet’s scopes in different foreign countries?

Keywords

• Diyanet
• Islam
• secularism
• Turkey
• religious institution