Turkey Uses Diyanet Religious Institution for Influence Operations

Turkey is using the Diyanet reli­gious insti­tu­tion for influ­ence oper­a­tions with dra­mat­i­cal­ly increased fund­ing. On 2 Decem­ber 2025, the Eurasian Times report­ed that the Turk­ish Direc­torate of Reli­gious Affairs now offi­cial­ly plays an active role in pur­su­ing the coun­try’s for­eign pol­i­cy, with the bud­get increas­ing from $1.3 bil­lion to $3.18 bil­lion in 2023. The arti­cle begins:

It may be not­ed that “Diyanet”, as a Turk­ish reli­gious insti­tu­tion, is now offi­cial­ly play­ing an active role in pur­su­ing the coun­try’s for­eign pol­i­cy. It claims to be a diplo­mat­ic coun­ter­weight to West­ern insti­tu­tions in reshap­ing glob­al gov­er­nance nar­ra­tives. Its activ­i­ties include the export of Turk­ish reli­gious nar­ra­tives, infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment, and cler­i­cal train­ing in line with Ankara’s inter­pre­ta­tion of Sun­ni Islam—specifically the Hanafi-Maturi­di tra­di­tion. It is col­lab­o­rat­ing with the author­i­ties of the coun­tries in which it works to lim­it the appeal of Sau­di-style Salafism.

Read more: https://www.eurasiantimes.com/turkey-jabs-india-over-kashmir-again-erdogan-india/

Key Points

• Diyanet offi­cial­ly plays an active role in pur­su­ing Turkey’s for­eign pol­i­cy, claim­ing to be a diplo­mat­ic coun­ter­weight to West­ern insti­tu­tions, with activ­i­ties includ­ing the export of Turk­ish reli­gious nar­ra­tives, infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment, and cler­i­cal train­ing in line with Ankara’s inter­pre­ta­tion of Sun­ni Islam, specif­i­cal­ly the Hanafi-Maturi­di tradition.
• The Turk­ish Direc­torate of Reli­gious Affairs oper­ates as a state struc­ture direct­ly under the Pres­i­dent of Turkey, receiv­ing funds in accor­dance with bud­getary pro­vi­sions, with the bud­get sig­nif­i­cant­ly expand­ing from $1.3 bil­lion to $3.18 bil­lion in 2023, accord­ing to the lat­est offi­cial release.
• Diyanet man­ages thou­sands of mosques domes­ti­cal­ly and inter­na­tion­al­ly, engag­ing in edu­ca­tion­al, char­i­ta­ble, and infor­ma­tion­al activ­i­ties, col­lab­o­rat­ing with author­i­ties in coun­tries where it works to lim­it the appeal of Sau­di-style Salafism and chal­lenge Sau­di Ara­bi­a’s per­ceived lead­er­ship role.
• Turkey has faced crit­i­cism from many West­ern cap­i­tals due to Diyanet’s over­seas oper­a­tions, with grow­ing inter­na­tion­al scruti­ny lead­ing to tighter reg­u­la­tions and over­sight, and many Turk­ish Imams being refused visas in Europe amid con­cerns about influ­ence activities.

Turkey’s Diyanet: How Ankara Runs Global Influence Operations Through Mosques

Turkey’s Direc­torate of Reli­gious Affairs (Diyanet) func­tions as the pri­ma­ry vehi­cle for Ankara’s transna­tion­al influ­ence oper­a­tions, con­trol­ling more than 80,000 mosques domes­ti­cal­ly while pro­ject­ing soft pow­er through an expand­ing inter­na­tion­al net­work. Found­ed in 1924 to bring Sun­ni Islam under state over­sight, the Diyanet under­went a sig­nif­i­cant trans­for­ma­tion after the AKP came to pow­er in 2002, with its bud­get quadru­pled and lead­er­ship aligned with gov­ern­ment posi­tions. Nordic Mon­i­tor reports the insti­tu­tion received $3.7 bil­lion for 2025, sur­pass­ing the bud­gets of mul­ti­ple Turk­ish min­istries, and aims to reach 2.1 mil­lion peo­ple abroad through its exten­sive mosque network.

In Ger­many, the Turk­ish-Islam­ic Union for Reli­gious Affairs (DITIB) man­ages over 900 mosques as the Diyanet’s prin­ci­pal Euro­pean branch. The orga­ni­za­tion main­tains struc­tur­al depen­dence on the Turk­ish state, with imams sent from Ankara receiv­ing salaries from the Diyanet or Turk­ish con­sulates. Ger­many’s Min­istry of Inte­ri­or stat­ed that DITIB con­tributes to opin­ion for­ma­tion in Turk­ish gov­ern­ment inter­ests while offer­ing Turk­ish intel­li­gence many poten­tial infor­mants. A ZDF inves­ti­ga­tion doc­u­ment­ed at least nine­teen DITIB imams con­duct­ing espi­onage against tar­gets in Ger­many. The Euro­pean Jour­nal of Turk­ish Stud­ies con­firms that Diyanet dis­course reversed dur­ing the 2000s, becom­ing the AKP’s main ide­o­log­i­cal instru­ment in Europe.

Turkey’s reli­gious influ­ence extends beyond Ger­many into the West­ern Balka­ns. Deutsche Welle report­ed that Diyanet fund­ed the Namaz­gah mosque in Tirana with €30 mil­lion, secur­ing board influ­ence and appoint­ing a Turk­ish imam. Cul­tur­al anthro­pol­o­gists describe this as “infra­struc­ture impe­ri­al­ism,” with Turkey over­tak­ing Sau­di Ara­bia as the lead­ing fun­der of Balka­ns mosques fol­low­ing Erdo­gan’s rise. The Diyanet also oper­ates through the Bel­gian Diyanet Foun­da­tion con­trol­ling approx­i­mate­ly 70 mosques, while the Diyanet Cen­ter of Amer­i­ca over­sees numer­ous US mosques to influ­ence Turk­ish-speak­ing pop­u­la­tions. The Mid­dle East Forum notes that Euro­pean intel­li­gence agen­cies have inves­ti­gat­ed Diyanet mosques for espi­onage oper­a­tions tar­get­ing crit­ics of the Erdo­gan gov­ern­ment, prompt­ing West­ern nations to imple­ment mea­sures curb­ing for­eign reli­gious interference.

Exter­nal References:
• Erdo­gan’s noto­ri­ous reli­gious author­i­ty eyes glob­al expan­sion — Nordic Monitor
• Trans­for­ma­tion of the Turk­ish Diyanet both at Home and Abroad — Euro­pean Jour­nal of Turk­ish Studies
• Diyanet Serves as Tool for Turk­ish Soft Pow­er in Ger­many — Mid­dle East Forum

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