100 Syrian imams to be employed across Turkey

ISTANBUL

The Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) will employ at least 100 Syrian imams to provide religious services to Syrian refugees staying at camps in Turkey, daily Habertürk has reported.

The move was announced as one of the upcoming projects planned by the General Directorate of Religious Services, under the Diyanet.

The 100 Syrian imams will be employed as part of information offices that will be opened to answer the questions of Syrian refugees living in temporarily refugee centers in Turkey.

The Diyanet also announced trips to be organized for around 500 Syrian refugee children to visit religious, historical and cultural sites across Turkey, including the northwestern provinces of Istanbul, Edirne and Bursa, the Aegean province of Manisa, the Central Anatolian provinces of Konya, Sivas and Kayseri, the Black Sea province of Amasya, the eastern province of Erzurum, and the southeastern provinces of Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Diyarbakır.

In addition, conferences will be held aiming to guard refugees from “religious manipulation,” addressing the exploitation of Islam by groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

There are currently 235,000 refugees in temporary refugee centers in Turkey, including around 228,000 Syrians and around 7,000 Iraqis, in the southern and southeastern provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, Mardin, Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye, Adıyaman, Adana and Malatya.