[Hurriyet Daily News] The head of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, has once again reacted to a recent Austrian code, which caused debate with items that regulates Islam in the country, saying that the body a plan-B to by-pass the code by training a number of Turkish-origin imams in Turkey before they return to the European country as religious officials.
On Feb. 25, the Austrian Parliament passed a law the updated "Law on Islam," which was prepared by the coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party, aims to regulate how Islam is managed inside the country and includes provisions requiring imams to be able to speak German, standardizing the Koran in the German language, and banning Islamic organizations from receiving foreign funding.
The code also projects sending back religious service cadre back to their countries in three years.
| So three years of training in Turkish in Turkey, followed by three years or so of training in German in Austria. After which the authorities will be suspicious of their loyalties forever more, and may decide not to allow them to practice after all. Or, three years in Austria only, and the trust of the authorities. I know what I'd choose -- and I enjoyed my school years. |
"We have a second preparation, a plan-B on the issue," Diyanet head Mehmet Görmez told Anadolu Agency in the Mediterranean province of Antalya. "Sons of Turkish families who have immigrated to Europe, who have become Europeans, are having religious training in Turke. Inshallah they will provide the best service when the return to their own countries."
Along with Görmez, top Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
, have criticized the Austrian Law on Islam.
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