Turkish Authority gave the power to sensor Quran translations – DW – 06/15/2025

Religious affairs of Türkiye, headed as a dione, are one of the most influential officers in the country. For its own figures, it employs over 140,000 people and provides religious services in 100 countries. Established in 1924, DIYANET directly reported the Islamic Orthodox President Recep Erdogan Sion 2018. Its annual budget is an annual budget of € 3 billion ($ 3.47 billion), so more than several ministry including the Ministry of Internal.

DIYANET manages 90,000 mosques across the country, organizes the Quran courses, cultural programs and annual pilgrims, and coordinates slaughter for the sacrifice of sacrifice. So it trains the Imam and deploys them both at home and abroad. Its foundation is active in 150 countries and reaches millions through educational programs and scholarships worldwide.

Catching Quran a time hand
The Quran is written in Arabic. Translations are necessary to bring lessons to millions of people including those in TürkiyeImage: Godong/Imageo Picture

New right over Quran translations

In recent years, the powers of Diyanet have expanded. Recently, a new law that came into force on 4 June empowered the interpreters of the Quran. If the thesis “does not correspond to the basic characteristics of Islam,” they can be banned. The “problematic copies” that have already been published can be seized and destroyed. How it applies online to digital texts, audio and video recording.

Earlier, President Erdogan had approved this right by decree, which allowed Dianet to classify some translations as “untrue”. But the decree was killed by the Constitutional Court. But the new law has been ensured that the power of the dione will actually be constitutional.

Critics accused of censorship

In Muslim majority countries, the major majority of the state invite Islam to justify their actions. For example, in Iraq, once secular Saddam laughed the religious tetate to justify his autocratic measures and war with Iran. In Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of using push for more religious openness on the pretext of tightening his political opponents. And as mentioned by the Middle East Institute, Erdogan’s political party, justice and Vikas Party, or AKP, “maintains the loyalty of its base through a historical story of religion and nationalism.”

Now the government’s religiousist alleges that the new Turkish law has a quantity of censorship, it is called the state-lagu Islam which endangers religious freedom.

For well-known pioneer Sonmez Kutlu, this is a declaration of bankruptcy by the state. They say that more than 100,000 DIYANET employees and a country with more than 100 theology faculties should be able to ban the Quran through intellectual and scientific methods from allegedly problematic translations, they say.

So he warned the publications with translated poems, who reportedly “refute the basic characteristics of Islam”, so lead to investigations and prosecution.

A headshot photo of Ihsan Eliak
The Quran translation by Ihsan Eliakik has already been classified and banned as ‘problematic’. Elikic is one of the scientists who are important of DiyanetImage: Anaka

Charicist Ihsan Eliologist saw the new Authority of Diocese as a fundamental violation of faith. “In Islam, no institution is allowed to stand between people and Allah. However, the Quran reviews the Quran for the ‘truth’ of the Quran in the same way,” he says.

The Quran’s own translation of the Elijak of the Quran was first banned by the dinet. He appealed to the constitutional court and won. But under the new legal commission, it is no longer possible to take such action.

Religious order profit

In recent years, the government’s critical Elikic, Kutalu and other religiousists have repeatedly aimed at sight by pro-government brotherhood and Islamist orders. Omar Ozsoy, professor of theology at the University of Goethe in Frankfurt, suspects that the growing impact on the government with these religious system is behind the new law.

“Thesis circle has been openly opposed to academic, important and pluralistic theology in the Islamic theory faculties of Türkiye for a decade openly,” says Ozsoy. Hey saw how he is “running a systematic campaign against high-profile theology for some time.”

Ozsoy is afraid that the new law may be roughly applied with oppressive and politically induced interpretations. “The translator Coleguse reports that Diyanet has already designed to apply a total of 12 translations, including Mustafa Ozturk and Edip Yousal,” Hey says.

A man and a woman sit outside a coffee shop looking at their phone
Public opinion research institute Konda reports that the ratio of people in Türkiye which has fallen by 55% in the Religion Thewests 2018 which has increased to 46% todayImage: Chhaya al-Sese/Zuma/Picture Alliance

Role of translations

The Quran is written in Arabic. The translations of the sacred book of Islam are required to make the texts accessible for millions of people. However, they have interpretations, especially in terms of vague words or routes, make them a sensitive subject.

The importance of Quran translations in non-Arabic-speaking countries has been discovered as Türkiye in recent years. In the past, Ozsoy explained, “Depending on religious scholars to deal with the Quran.” Today, however, things are different, he said. “Today, late believers read the Quran directly and interpreted it independently,” it is due to significant thinking and emergence of various movements and social streams.

According to Ozsoy, the number of Turkish Quran translations has increased in recent decades. There are many in translators without professional qualifications. This problem has been widely discussed among experts and there is extensive educational literature on the subject.

Turkish President Erdogan is sitting on a couch with a low table in front of him, he is surrounded by three religious leaders, so L is sitting on an L -shaped couch
Supervisors suspect the impact of Islamic order behind the new law. Here, President Erdogan visits Istanbul in 2020 in Istanbul.Image: Anaka

More non-believers

Religion Turkish has become the focal point of social discourse. Especially young people are engaged in reading scriptures and questioning many principles – the cause of concern within the government. President Erdogan repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to raise the “holy generation”.

However, recent studies by Opinion Research Institute Konda suggests: The ratio of people describing the content as religious has fallen from 55% in 2018, while the ratio of atheists or non-convicts has increased from 2% to 8% in such a period.

This article was original in German.

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