Change of guard at the Diyanet

The Presidency of Religious Affairs is undoubtedly one of the most interesting institutions of Turkey, in which all of the country's sociological, civil and democratic development can be traced.

From one point of view, the DİB is the most important contradiction of a secular state. From another, it is the expression of a choice, by a state that has defined itself as secular, in favor of Sunni-Hanafi religiosity. According to yet another not insignificant view, it is the state's instrument for controlling religion.

A finding that would correct all of these views, none of which is entirely wrong, is this: although in the years when it was first founded it was an institution the state valued for controlling the religious sphere, especially after the fifties the Diyanet is a structure that found its own character by being shaped in the dialectic between the demands of society and the supply of the state. In this respect, even regarding it as the result of a state choice between the options of Alevism and Sunnism would be a very great mistake.

Today, with a history as old as the Republic, the Diyanet has acquired, over this process, its own particular history and existence, relatively independent of all the processes the state has gone through. The intertwined discourses within the institution's structure, shaped between the demands of society and the supply of the state, increase the institution's sophisticated structure. From this point on, understanding the Diyanet becomes an important condition of understanding the state and society in Turkey. The people who preside over the institution need, under the weight of this intertwined structure, to have a far more special weight and depth than in other institutions.

Prof. Ali Bardakoğlu, who had been heading the institution for seven and a half years and handed over his post to his successor Prof. Mehmet Görmez in recent days, displayed a very special profile in this respect compared with his predecessors. During his time in office, in parallel with the social development Turkey was experiencing in many respects, he played a very special role in increasing the institution's dignity, effectiveness and depth. With the contribution of his academic formation in the field of Islamic Law, his subtle sensitivity and attention to the possibilities of rulings differing across times and contexts made itself felt at all times while presiding over an institution like the DİB. In this respect, in the speeches he gave and statements he made, he never got by with the ready-made, stock phrases in his saddlebag. He always tried to find the most suitable language, taking the situation and context into account. In this respect it can easily be said that he raised the bar at the Presidency of Religious Affairs to the highest level compared with his predecessors.

The dignity Prof. Bardakoğlu displayed on his last day in office, when handing over his duties to his own deputy Prof. Mehmet Görmez, also crowned the quality he showed in the presidency. It was noted that for the first time in the history of the Presidency of Religious Affairs a handover ceremony was held. So before this there was apparently a complete disconnection between those who completed their terms and the executives who followed. This is most likely a result of the interventionist nature of politics. Yet Prof. Bardakoğlu, by personally dressing the successor who took over from him in the robe he took off himself, in a way ensured that he would make his presence felt in the institution's effectiveness from here on as well.

Indeed, DİB's new president Prof. Mehmet Görmez had been the institution's most important number two for the same period as Prof. Bardakoğlu's presidency. He had a share in all the successes that can be attributed to Prof. Bardakoğlu. Prof. Görmez, who comes from the Ankara Theology circle, is a professor of Hadith, and his academic formation was shaped in a way by doing in the field of Hadith something similar to what Bardakoğlu did in the field of law. His work titled Hadis İlimlerinde Metodoloji Sorunu (The Problem of Methodology in the Hadith Sciences) contains serious theses and makes a meaningful contribution to the hadith literature in the context of the correct understanding and interpretation of contemporary hadiths. He is the architect of the selected hadiths (40 Hadith) that will give meaning to the life of modern man, which are still being carried out within the DİB in the field of hadith, and of many similar projects. The preparation of the Alevi classics for publication in an exquisite edition was also done under his management and supervision, and thereby the dimension of scholarly sources, which was missing from the Alevi opening, has to a significant extent been completed.

Prof. Görmez's presidency will in many respects show continuity with the predecessor from whom he received the robe, but we can expect it to stand out with a difference thanks to his personal characteristics, in the process in which Turkey's democratic openings in different fields will be experienced.

I congratulate esteemed Prof. Bardakoğlu, whom I knew very well before he became president and from whose books I learned a great deal, on the completion of his term, and likewise Prof. Görmez, whose views I had followed in many settings before he became deputy president, on his new post.

Let us keep this article at the level of a congratulation and a wish of good luck, and let us enter into our assessments of the problems awaiting the Diyanet's new president later.