Young people receive intensive German and integration courses in Germany. After a total of two years of training, they must work as imams in German DITIB mosques for at least 10 years.

“We offer them the possibility to stay in Germany in order to enhance cooperation in local communities,” said Eyup Kalyan, Secretary General of DITIB.

The new imam training program aims to gradually replace the more than 1,000 preachers currently working for the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) in Germany.

The German government and Turkey agreed on a roadmap for this in Decembe because the imams, who are usually sent by the Diyanet for four years, follow Ankara's instructions as Turkish civil servants rarely speak any German. And they usually have very little knowledge of the realities. Of life in German society.

The German government had announced that it would financially support the training of further imams in Germany.

DITIB also intends to continue its imam training programme, which has been running since 2020 and is aimed at Muslim theologians from Germany.

A total of 58 men and women have so far been trained as "Islamic religious representatives" in two courses, Kalyan said.




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