A Content Analysis of the Friday Sermons of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs in Germany (DİTİB)

Abstract

The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB) runs more than 900 mosques in Germany and circulates Friday sermons in these mosques. Our analysis provides a nuanced depiction of the link to the homeland by conducting qualitative and quantitative content analyses of 481 sermons from 2011 to 2019. To what extent are relations with Turkey reflected in the sermons? And how is the concept of “home” reflected in those sermons? While homeland-related issues constitute a minority overall, the concept “home” occurs in five different contexts within these sermons: First, sermons directly refer to the homeland and norms connected to it. Second, implicit links are created by discussing events in Turkey. Third, leaving the homeland is described as an integral part of the history of Islam. The last two contexts discuss Germany as a “new home”, and build links to Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) through its foundation.

Understanding the Political and Religious Implications of Turkish Civil Religion in The Netherlands: A Critical Discourse Analysis of ISN Friday Sermons

“…The changes in the discourse of the ISN since 2017 indicate that Islam in the Netherlands, to some extent, alternates between negotiation and conflict to reconstruct an individual and collective identity (cf. Carol and Hofheinz 2022;Gibbon 2008;Gürlesin 2020;Ongur 2020;Sbai 2019). In the Netherlands, the ISN experiences various kinds of social and political pressure and adjusts itself to a variety of situations in which it undertakes religious activities.…”

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Building Party Support Abroad: Turkish Diaspora Organisations in Germany and the UK

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Manufacturing Civilisational Crises: Instrumentalisation of Anti-Western Conspiracy Theories for Populist Authoritarian Resilience in Turkey and Pakistan

“…Over the years, the list of 'others' continues to grow, encapsulating not just national but transnational 'threats.' These layers of crises are added to the AKP's narrative (Carol & Hofheinz, 2022;Yilmaz, 2021a;Yilmaz & Albayrak, 2021A;2021b;Yilmaz & Erturk, 2021). The sense of a looming crisis justifies the AKP's undemocratic actions and it sows deep divisions within a society shaped, in part, by Islamist civilisationalist populism.…”