Diyanet as a Turkish foreign policy tool: Evidence from the Netherlands and Bulgaria

Ahmet Erdi Öztürk; Semiha Sözeri

doi:10.1017/S175504831700075X

Diyanet as a Turkish foreign policy tool: Evidence from the Netherlands and Bulgaria

Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
, Semiha Sözeri

Université de Strasbourg
extern

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

How does Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) act as an instrument of foreign policy (FP)? What are the factors that allow such an instrumentalization of Islam in Turkish FP? In addressing these questions, this paper uses semi-structured expert interviews from Bulgaria and the Netherlands. Although both countries host a sizeable Muslim minority, these populations differ in their characteristics and historical ties with Turkey. Comparing Diyanet's role in the Netherlands with its recent Turkish-Muslim diaspora, and in Bulgaria with its centuries-old Muslim minority allows us to reveal variation in the practical engagement strategies that Diyanet adopts in different country contexts. Thus, this paper advances two main claims; first, Diyanet serves as a primary FP tool of Turkey in countries with a significant Turkish-Muslim minority. Secondly, this instrumentalization destabilizes secularization projects both at home and abroad.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	624-648
Number of pages	25
Journal	Politics and Religion
Volume	11
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S175504831700075X
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2018

Funding

We are grateful to Taptuk Emre Erkoç, Samim Akgönül, İştar Gözaydın, Efe Kerem Sözeri, Bahar Baser, Guy Ben-Porat, Ayhan Aktar, Ayse Kadayıfcı-Orellana, Simon P. Watmough, Vincente Fortier, Anne-Laure Zwiling, Kerem Öktem, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments on the earlier versions of this article. We also would like to thank the editors of the Journal of Politics and Religion for their kind approaches. Öztürk Ahmet Erdi A hmet E rdi Ö ztürk is a Ph.D. researcher at University of Strasbourg, Faculty of Law, Social Science and History (DRES), and he is a Sociological and Legal Data on Religions in Europe and Beyond's (EUREL) Turkey correspondent. He is also a Swedish Institute Scholarship holder at Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO) for the year of 2018. Öztürk is the co-editor (with Bahar Baser) of Authoritarian Politics in Turkey: Elections, Resistance and the AKP (IB Tauris, 2017). He has also published articles in such as the Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies , the Journal of Critical Studies on Terrorism , the Journal of Research and Politics on Turkey , and the Journal of Balkan and Near East Studies , and as well as various chapters in edited volumes. Sözeri Semiha S emiha S özeri is a Ph.D. researcher at the Department for Child Development and Education at the University of Amsterdam, and a junior member of the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies. Her Ph.D. project investigates the role of mosque education in the social integration and identity development of children from Turkish background in the Netherlands. She is a recipient of the 2017 Emerging Scholar Award from the Religion in Society Research Network. Her previous publications have appeared in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education and International Handbook of Teacher Quality and Policy ( Routledge , 2017). Her current research interests include immigrant integration, sociology of education, ethnic and religious identity formation, and Turkish diaspora in Europe. University of Strasbourg/Linköping University University of Amsterdam Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, University of Strasbourg , France . E-mail: [email protected] 02 03 2018 09 2018 11 3 624 648 Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2018 2018 Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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Diyanet as a Turkish foreign policy tool: Evidence from the Netherlands and Bulgaria

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