Istanbul Gaza Conference Brings Together GMB, Diyanet Leaders

An Islam­ic con­fer­ence in Istan­bul has iden­ti­fied three types of con­flict affect­ing Gaza while call­ing for increased inter­na­tion­al inter­ven­tion. On August 24, 2025, Anadolu Agency report­ed that the Inter­na­tion­al Union of Mus­lim Schol­ars described Gaza as fac­ing mil­i­tary oper­a­tions, sup­ply restric­tions, and lim­it­ed inter­na­tion­al response dur­ing an eight-day con­fer­ence attend­ed by over 150 schol­ars from 50+ coun­tries. The arti­cle begins:

The eight-day Gaza con­fer­ence resumed on Sun­day with a full day of work­shops on Democ­ra­cy and Free­dom Island in Istan­bul, where par­tic­i­pants explored the duties of dif­fer­ent sec­tors in respond­ing to the ongo­ing geno­cide in Gaza. Del­e­gates, divid­ed into groups of schol­ars, state rep­re­sen­ta­tives, busi­ness lead­ers, media pro­fes­sion­als, and polit­i­cal fig­ures, debat­ed prac­ti­cal steps to aid Pales­tini­ans and strength­en uni­ty across the Mus­lim world. Morn­ing ses­sions exam­ined the respon­si­bil­i­ties of Islam­ic schol­ars and gov­ern­ments, while lat­er dis­cus­sions focused on the role of busi­ness in recon­struc­tion projects and the oblig­a­tions of the media in rais­ing glob­al awareness.

Read more: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-conference-in-istanbul-warns-of-three-types-of-war-as-scholars-call-for-urgent-action/3667873

Key Points

• Over 150 schol­ars from 50+ coun­tries, includ­ing lead­ers of the IUMS and Diyanet, gath­ered in Istan­bul, focus­ing on urgent aid, polit­i­cal pres­sure, and account­abil­i­ty for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
• Ses­sions high­light­ed Gaza’s human­i­tar­i­an cri­sis, Mus­lim world uni­ty, legal strate­gies, and the role of media and busi­ness in relief and reconstruction.
• The con­fer­ence cul­mi­nat­ed in the Istan­bul Dec­la­ra­tion, which reaf­firmed Pales­tini­ans’ right to resist occu­pa­tion and out­lined steps for polit­i­cal, human­i­tar­i­an, and legal action.
• The gathering’s stat­ed objec­tives includ­ed halt­ing mil­i­tary oper­a­tions, deliv­er­ing human­i­tar­i­an aid, forg­ing a uni­fied Mus­lim alliance, and ensur­ing legal account­abil­i­ty for alleged atrocities.

IUMS, Diyanet, and Erdogan: Turkey is a Hub for Muslim Brotherhood Influence Operations

Turkey, under Pres­i­dent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has become a major plat­form for the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood (GMB), host­ing gath­er­ings and anti-Israel con­fer­ences, which reg­u­lar­ly fea­ture promi­nent Broth­er­hood-linked schol­ars, Turk­ish offi­cials, and inter­na­tion­al par­tic­i­pants. Through state-backed insti­tu­tions like Diyanet, Ankara extends its influ­ence across Euro­pean Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ties, pro­mot­ing nar­ra­tives aligned with the Brotherhood’s goals.

The Inter­na­tion­al Union of Mus­lim Schol­ars (IUMS), close­ly tied to the Broth­er­hood, has found a recep­tive envi­ron­ment in Turkey for advo­cat­ing on Pales­tine, often in part­ner­ship with Turk­ish gov­ern­ment ini­tia­tives and media. This con­ver­gence is part of a broad­er strat­e­gy by Erdoğan’s gov­ern­ment to posi­tion Turkey as a leader of polit­i­cal Islam, lever­ag­ing reli­gious net­works, dias­po­ra mobi­liza­tion, and diplo­mat­ic cam­paigns to chal­lenge West­ern poli­cies on Israel-Pales­tine and con­sol­i­date a transna­tion­al Islamist alliance.

Experts note that Turkey’s role in this ecosys­tem is both oper­a­tional and ide­o­log­i­cal, with Ankara’s reli­gious and intel­li­gence agen­cies active­ly sup­port­ing Broth­er­hood-linked caus­es abroad, while aca­d­e­m­ic observers high­light the risks of for­eign inter­fer­ence and the deep­en­ing inte­gra­tion of Turk­ish and Broth­er­hood net­works in shap­ing Mus­lim polit­i­cal iden­ti­ty in Europe and beyond.

Exter­nal References:

• Turkey And Iran Use Reli­gion For Influ­ence Build­ing In US And Europe
• The Instru­men­tal­iza­tion of Diyanet’s Islam­ic Soft Pow­er with­in Turkey’s Faith-based For­eign Policy
• Islamist Civ­i­liza­tion­al Pol­i­tics and the AKP: Turkey’s Role in a Chang­ing Mus­lim World

Dis­claimer:

The Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report (GIOR) employs AI through­out the post­ing process, includ­ing gen­er­at­ing sum­maries of news items, the intro­duc­tion, key points, and often the “con­text” sec­tion. We rec­om­mend ver­i­fy­ing all infor­ma­tion before use. Addi­tion­al­ly, images are AI-gen­er­at­ed and intend­ed sole­ly for illus­tra­tive pur­pos­es. While they rep­re­sent the events or indi­vid­u­als dis­cussed, they should not be inter­pret­ed as real-world photography.