Turkish Directorate General for Religious Affairs suffers loss due to Hajj quota cut

ANKARA

Turkish Hajj candidates seen praying for being named at the ‘Hajj lottery.’ AA photo

The head of the Directorate General for Religious Affairs (Diyanet), Mehmet Görmez, affirmed that the institution would suffer a huge financial loss since they had to change their plans after Saudi Arabia had cut this year’s global Hajj quota by 20 percent due to renovations at the Grand Mosque.

Görmez had already announced that some 14,800 prospective pilgrims would not be able to make the pilgrimage due to Saudi Arabia’s quota.

Responding to reporters’ questions at an iftar late on July 23, Görmez was asked how much loss Diyanet would incur, as it had originally made its preparations according to 74,000 prospective pilgrims and they had to drop the number to 14,800 this year.

Görmez did not name a certain figure, but said there would be a huge loss, according to a report by Anadolu Agency.

“We haven’t counted it up yet, but this year is one of our most difficult years. I have always stated that there is of course a serious lack of farsightedness. I also mentioned it to the authorities. We shouldn’t forget that the difficulty of the construction comes from the effort to save the porticos,” Görmezsaid. “If there weren’t an idea of protecting the porticos with their pillars and the rocks, the construction would have been completed much more rapidly. But it takes time to move them one by one while also protecting them and then to put them again into the circumambulating area [around the Kaaba],”