Religious affairs directorate at the cross-roads
by
MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE

This tradition, which was easy to perform in agrarian societies, took on a reddish tint with urbanization. Secularists criticize the sacrifice tradition because it creates bloodstained images throughout cities. Municipalities have invested heavily in efforts to prevent these images. For the first time in this year’s Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, we did not see such disturbing images. To make this happen, municipalities readied facilities suitable for animal slaughter and imposed heavy fines on those who breached bans on slaughter in other places. One can conclude that this practice will settle, and a tradition of sacrifice in full harmony with urban life will eventually be established.

New head of the Religious Affairs Directorate

Turkey marked this religious festival with a change in leadership at the Religious Affairs Directorate. After eight years, Professor Ali Bardakoğlu handed over his office to Professor Mehmet Görmez. Rumor has it that Bardakoğlu’s resignation is due to one of his comments on the headscarf issue. During the recent surge of debates on the headscarf issue, Bardakoğlu had said that this issue must be solved by politicians. What he says is true. Indeed, even during the most difficult periods such as under the secularist military junta rule of Sept. 12, the Religious Affairs Directorate would assert that wearing a headscarf is a religious injunction for women. Without indulging in vicious headscarf debates, Bardakoğlu referred the headscarf issue to politicians as its real owners. For this reason, it is very unlikely that he was removed from office due to his connection with this remark.

The new head of the directorate, Görmez, is a good pick for this office. He is a very good professor of theology. Moreover, he has a great deal of experience as a manager at various positions in the directorate. He is a typical cleric and has a good temperament and is humble and open to communication. In addition to being a religious scholar, he is an intellectual who is cognizant of the views and ideas of the time.

The Religious Affairs Directorate stands directly at the intersection of a number of ongoing debates: Alevism, the headscarf issue, secularism and even the Kurdish issue. Alevis wants a public institution similar to the directorate, which they say fosters the Sunni version of Islam. Or at least, they seek funds allocated for them from the state budget. Whether their demands will be met depends on the position of the directorate. As Kurds and Turks have the same religion, the Kurdish issue has not worsened to the point of breaking up. Still, they are followers of two different sects. None of these issues will stay as they are, i.e., they will eventually be solved. The directorate may play a critical role in this process. Thus, the directorate has to change radically as Turkey is undergoing rapid change and transformation.

Change a must for the directorate

Görmez’s appointment as the head of the directorate is a positive coincidence during such a critical period. As an experienced and attentive president, he may secure the respect and trust of all parties. Issues have bigger problems of communication and dialogue. With Görmez at the helm of the directorate, we can be sure that these problems will be largely eliminated.

Professor İsmail Kara is an indisputable authority concerning religious and political thought and religious institutions of the recent past. Speaking to Ezgi Başaran of Radikal last week, he listed three different duties of the directorate with a critical approach: The first task is to modernize the understanding of religion and religious knowledge, i.e., to convert religious knowledge into a form suitable for the age to combat heterogeneous trends in public piety. The second is to ensure this form of piety in society. And the third is to turn its face to the state instead of Islam when it is forced to choose between the state and the society.

Kara’s assertions are historically accurate, and they even apply to the Ottoman Sheikh ul-Islam. Thus, today’s Directorate of Religious Affairs has the same position as the Office of Sheikh ul-Islam. Even so, the directorate has more personnel than the Office of Sheikh ul-Islam. In the Ottoman period, clerics were not civil servants. They would be paid by mosque foundations.

On the other hand, the directorate is a constitutional institution. Thus, if a political party advocates their removal, this may be a reason for their closure. However, radical changes in their functions are inevitable. First of all, the problematic relationship between the directorate and the state must be changed. As pointed out by Kara, the directorate must dispense with its image as an institution that sees to the religious affairs of the state. To do this, the state must change before the directorate does so. Democratization of the state will automatically change the traditional role of the directorate. The state used and is using the directorate as a strategic institution to manage society and keep it under control. When the state is managed by the public, the directorate will start to deal with the public’s needs.

It must be noted that the directorate is a state institution. In a sense, it is one of the critical institutions that make the state a true state. The Islamic faith advocates the unity of religion and the state (as well as of the country and the nation). This principle has nothing to do with secularism. For Muslims in Turkey, the most critical institution is the Supreme Board of Religious Affairs (DİYK). The abolition of the Religious Affairs Directorate will not create a gap. This is because the directorate’s head is a bureaucrat who manages the religious bureaucracy and religious places of worship. The Sunni faith is represented by the DİYK, which is part of the directorate. The DİYK has religious significance as it issues decisions on religious matters or problems or fatwas. Nothing can replace this board as it represents the unity of the Sunni faith. This unity can be ensured as this board lends official recognition to these decisions.

The Turkish state is in the process of democratization. This process will inevitably be accompanied by democratization of the directorate as one of the most critical public institutions. Democratization of the directorate as a religious state institution implies that the distance between the state and the religion will increase and the principle of mutual noninterference will settle. Görmez will manage a directorate that is at the center of debates during a painful period of transformation. The directorate is expected to contribute to the solution of these problems. Görmez’s presidency is a significant development as he is an intellectual cleric.