Turkish Muslims are one of the largest and oldest Muslim migrant groups from the post-WWII era. They have established a large network of mosques across Australia, most of which are affiliated with the Diyanet, a Turkish government body that provides and pays for imams. This is a situation unique to Turkish Muslims. It is reflective of the Turkish government's attempts to project state religious policy on Turkish communities in Australia and other Western countries.
"… the transnational activities of the Diyanet,
established in 1924 to reorganise Islam for service to the new nation-state … The
Foreign Affairs Department of the Diyanet was opened up in Cologne in 1984, yet
the institution ‘initiated a foreign program as early as 1971 to offer
religious services and education for Turks abroad’ … it has become the key
objective of the Diyanet to suffocate unauthorised religious groups both at
home and abroad who do not subscribe to the regime’s ideology" (p385).
(Senay, B; Seeing for the state: Kemalist long-distance
nationalism in Australia (2013) 19 Nations and Nationalism 376-394)
No comments:
Post a Comment