Five Turkish imams from Flemish mosques deprived of their work permit: here is what they are accused of

Flemish Employment Minister Zuhal Demir made this decision because she actually discovered that the five imams were financed by Turkey. Why is this a problem in the eyes of the Flemish government?

Flemish nationalist Zuhal Demir does not want imams working in Flanders to be paid by Turkey. In his eyes, this is a threat of foreign interference. “I strongly oppose this“, she declared in a press release. “This is funding from a foreign government. We cannot turn a blind eye to these practices“.

Unable to act on their residence permit (this is a federal competence, editor’s note), Zuhal Demir therefore used his regional competences as Flemish Minister of Labor not to renew the work permits of these imams . Indeed, she invoked a recent legal provision in Flanders prohibiting migrants from benefiting from recurring financing from a foreign government. “In this case, we feel that on the Flemish side, there is a desire to bring back the skills to oneself and to manage oneself the way of managing the question of worship and more particularly of Islamic worship in order to promote of a cult which is part of Belgian reality“, explains Caroline Sägesser, researcher at the Center for Socio-Political Research and Information (CRISP).

Financing imams from Turkey: advantages and disadvantages

The practices that Zuhal Demir denounces are those of Diyanet, the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs, whose Brussels office was not available to answer our questions this Monday.

To understand, you should know that for many years, Turkey has been recruiting, training and sending imams to countries where there is a Turkish Muslim diaspora and paying them via Diyanet for their work as ministers of worship. “It is very specific to Turkish mosques in terms of how it is organized, hierarchical and centralized. There is no equivalent in other communities“, explains Corinne Torrekens, professor of political science at ULB, who recalls that Friday sermons “are written in Türkiye and sent to all the mosques, which shows that it is much more centralized“.

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Turkey thus hopes to maintain a strong relationship with its nationals of Muslim faith. If the qualities of imams seem appreciated by the faithful (notably the mastery of the languages ​​of the diasporas, editor’s note), this financing can also become a problem. “It can be a problem at different levels“, explains Caroline Sägesser, researcher at the Center for Socio-Political Research and Information (CRISP). “For example, if this treatment, coming from abroad, imposes on the imam in question a subjection in relation to this country or if in addition to his religious role, an imam carries out political propaganda“.

In the case of imams paid by Diyanet, the suspicion is therefore that they illegally play a political role in addition to their religious role in order to ensure that the faithful vote for Recep Erdogan’s regime in elections in which expatriates participate.

Flanders attacks what is perceived as interference much more than Wallonia

In Brussels, recognized mosques are now required to pay their imam via the Belgian state. In Wallonia, the situation is different. The legal provision which allowed Zuhal Demir not to renew the work permits of the imams concerned does not exist. But it could be in the future.

Contacted by our editorial team, the new Minister of Employment Pierre-Yves Jeholet affirms that the file is now being studied to make a decision similar to that of Zuhal Demir. According to Corinne Torrekens, “from a political point of view, there is a much stronger grip in Flanders on what is considered interference by the Turkish state in Belgian Islam“.

Most mosques are unrecognized in Belgium.

According to 2023 figures, Belgium has around 300 mosques of which less than a hundred are recognized. Indeed, official recognition is optional. “89 are recognized by public authorities“, explains François Husson, professor at ULg, specialist in the regime of worship. “26 in Flanders, 26 in Brussels and 38 in Wallonia“.

Also read: Germany will soon no longer accept imams trained in Türkiye

Unrecognized places of worship, all religions combined, are therefore sometimes more difficult to follow and support. But not asking for official recognition stems from the freedom to organize worship, a right protected by the Belgian constitution. “It is important not to confuse an unrecognized place of worship with an illegal place of worship, that is to say one which has illegal practices.“, adds Corinne Torrekens.”Recognition is a service available. But we can have an unrecognized place of worship integrated into different local plans and known to municipal authorities, for example.“.

Although it is a federal jurisdiction, the legal provisions surrounding Islamic worship sometimes vary from region to region. Researcher Caroline Sägesser recalls that the organization of Islamic worship in Belgium has gone through many vicissitudes and that we are “in the midst of the process of reorganization of the representative body of the Muslim faith“. “We can imagine that more order will be put into this file in the months or years to come“, considers the expert.

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