National conceptions, transnational solidarities: Turkey, Islam and Europe

Abstract

In this article, I examine the interplay between the institutionalization of Islam in Europe and the transnationalism of Turkey's Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Based on extensive fieldwork in Turkey, Austria, Belgium, France and Germany, I demonstrate not only the salience of the nation‐state prerogative on the part of both European states and the Turkish state but also the tension between national conceptions of Muslim identity on both sides amid transnational solidarities. I also argue that, to a certain extent, European policies of detransnationalizing the Muslim field in Europe also intersect with the Diyanet's transnational politics vis‐à‐vis Turkish/Muslim immigrants in their common resistance to the deculturalization of Muslims in Europe. While European countries try to nationalize their respective Muslim communities into their cultural and juridical framework through reterritorialization, the Diyanet has increasingly deterritorialized its activities to preserve a Muslim identity engrained in Turkishness – hence, the coexistence of both a tension and mutual accommodation between Europe and Turkey.

The transnational politics of religion: Turkey's Diyanet, Islamic communities and beyond

“…The exportation of religion was a consequence of Turkish nationals and other Muslims choosing to migrate to various parts of the world, particularly Continental Europe. 31 The swelling numbers of migrants necessitated the establishment of organizations that would provide religious services for them in their new home countries. Due to the significant population of Turkish citizens in places such as Germany, Austria, France and Sweden and because Turkish citizens adopted a more moderate interpretation of Islam relative to other Muslim-majority countries, Western states chose Turkey to fill this role.…”

Islam and Foreign Policy: Turkey’s Ambivalent Religious Soft Power in the Authoritarian Turn

“…Turkey began establishing mosques and training imams in Western Europe in 1970s and in both Asia and the Balkans starting in the 1990s, upon the explicit invitation of foreign states (Citak 2018). This initiative emerged when Muslim-majority countries realised that they were unable to deliver most Islamic religious services.…”

Integrating Islamic Education Values to Build Religious Character of Student in Higher Education

“…A study on the Islamic education is not only carried out in educational institution in Indonesia but also in some European countries. It was massively conducted in some educational institutions to cope with terrorism and secularity issues [5] [6]. In China, Islamic education aims to build humanist individuals and to differentiate ethnicities and races [7].…”