In late April, the German state of Hessen announced it will end its eight-year cooperation with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) for religion classes at schools. The official reason for ending the partnership is that the DITIB is not seen as independent from the Turkish state.

The DITIB is a branch of the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet. It has offices all around the world, including the United States, with hundreds of mosques and thousands of imams and teachers. But its stronghold is Europe due to the large Turkish diaspora the continent hosts. At least 5.5 million Turkish citizens reside in Western Europe. 

Kemal Bozay, a professor of social and political sciences in Dusseldorf, explained to Al-Monitor, “After the 1990s, Islamic education entered the schools. In states where there was a sizable Turkish population, the DITIB has been active in designing curricula for such classes and partnering with educational agencies. The most important criticism against the DITIB is not about its religious practices but its identity as a representative of the Turkish state and religious policies.” Bozay added that although Hessen is the first to end such cooperation, it may easily set a precedent for other states.

Indeed, Hessen is only one of many European states that have taken steps to manage DITIB and Muslim Brotherhood activities. In June 2018, Austria announced the closure of seven mosques and expelled imams who were paid by Turkey. France decided in February to stop allowing the foreign funding of imams, mosques and teachers for religion classes. Germany has started training its own imams.