Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has sanctioned an imam again for refusing to bring his congregation to a 2023 rally for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, despite a court overturning an earlier sanction, the Karar news website reported on Friday.
İmam Yusuf Kılıç had been sanctioned after he rejected a request from the local branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to facilitate his congregation’s attendance at Erdoğan’s election rally in İzmir on April 29, 2023.
Kılıç was reassigned to another post in another province with a temporary interruption in promotions and pay increases, a disciplinary measure with negative implications for career advancement.
He challenged that decision before an administrative court, which annulled the disciplinary measure. However, despite the court’s ruling, the Diyanet opened a new investigation and on August 20 issued an official reprimand.
The new sanction has sparked public debate over political influence within the bureaucracy and the disregard of judicial decisions by state institutions.
The Diyanet is often criticized for its lack of independence from political influence and for instrumentalizing Friday sermons to advance government narratives.
It is also criticized for excluding religious minorities such as the Alevis, despite being funded by taxpayers from all faiths.
Benefiting from a bigger budget than most government agencies, it also operates a sizeable network of mosques in Western Europe that has been accused of spying on government critics living among diaspora communities.
