Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Institutionalisation of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religion Affairs (DITIB) in Germany: An Historical Analysis
Fatih Çağatay Cengiz
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this study is to track the institutionalisation of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB), one of Germany’s largest faith-based organisations, in Germany. DİTİB was founded in 1984 to meet the religious and cultural demands of Turkish workers who came to Germany as guest workers (gastarbeiter) in the 1960s. DİTİB, on the one hand, has an active and deliberative engagement in the cultural activities it organizes for Turkish immigrants, education and integration services (courses, seminars, panels, etc.), youth work for third and fourth generations of Turkish community, and Friday sermons it delivers. On the other hand, DİTİB also features in the German public debates due to its role in German integration policy and institutional relationships with Turkey. The study scrutinizes the historical development of the organization since its foundation in the 1980s and highlights how institutionalisation influences the promotion of its religious-cultural activities in Germany, as well as its integration policy from a historical perspective. Drawing from extensive interviews with twelve mosque communities and fieldwork conducted in the Cologne/Ehrenfeld region, the study proposes a correlation between the increasing prominence of Islam in Germany and the institutionalisation of DİTİB.
keywords: Faith-Based Organisations, Turkish immigrants, integration, generations, cultural-religious activities
Supported by Ondokuz Mayıs University Scientific Research Project Coordination Unit under project number BAP05-2024-5303.