German media is reporting that local board members of a Turkish-German mosque organization connected to the Turkish government have made anti-Semitic and anti-constitutional Facebook posts. According to the NDR report:
November 10, 2021: Once again, DITIB board members are attracting attention with anti-Semitic and anti-constitutional Facebook posts. The state association regrets the comments and distances itself. It is the statements of individuals. But the Facebook postings by board members of the DITIB mosques in Osnabrück, Hildesheim and Hanover raise questions. Researchers at the Göttingen Institute for Democracy Research found the posts during random checks on social networks. Political scientist Marvin Hild evaluated the publicly accessible profiles for his research. In total, there were 34 user accounts that are or were visible to everyone. These were private accounts of men who, according to the websites of the DITIB communities, belong to the extended executive boards. Political scientist Hild explains: “We looked in particular for Islamist-antidemocratic statements, clearly anti-Semitic statements and those that can be attributed to Turkish right-wing extremism. The democracy researcher found six profiles. [Translated by DeepL with edits]
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The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) manages over 900 mosques in Germany. At the same time, the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) determines the theological guidelines for imams’ sermons, and the Turkish consulate pays their salaries. DITIB, however, maintains that it is independent of the Turkish state. German politicians have sought to have imams trained in Germany instead of sent over from Turkey, in part to reduce Turkey’s influence in the country.
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