Addressing the Blurred Edges of Turkey’s Diaspora and Religious Policy: Diyanet Women Preachers sent to Europe

Since the early 2000s, an increasing number of female religious officers have been employed by the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and regularly sent to European countries. Tasked with providing religious knowledge and moral support to women, their engagement epitomises Diyanet’s contribution to the AKP government’s wide-ranging international mission aimed at reaching Turkish citizens living abroad. To assess the significance of the activities organised for Turkish women migrated to Europe, the paper aims to answer the following questions: How does the ‘export’ of Diyanet female religious officers fit into Diyanet’s grip on international affairs? What is women’s contribution in this respect? And how do the activities of Diyanet women preachers in Europe reflect Turkey’s current diaspora policies? Drawing on ethnographic observation and interviews with the Diyanet female officers in Vienna and Stockholm mosques, this contribution concludes that Diyanet officers’ role and agency abroad is the result of a combination of two concomitant and interconnected factors The paper argues that female religious officers’ activities abroad should be included in a multifaceted reconfiguration of: i) the Diyanet’s long lasting international mission; ii) the role women play in the diffusion of religious knowledge and morality; iii) the boundaries between Turkey’s religious and diaspora policies