Trip to Ankara and the Presidency of Religious Affairs

Tomorrow morning I’m catching an early flight to Ankara where I’ll spend a couple days interviewing people at the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), one of Turkey’s two governmental institutions for administering Islamic religious life.

The Diyanet produces all the sermons I’ve been studying and is also responsible for sending imams to DITIB mosques in Germany.  In other words, I’m going straight to the source.

I’ve arranged several interviews over the phone with sermon writers and another with an official who overseas DITIB.  I also spoke with a man today who worked for the Diyanet in Washington, D.C. for four years and seemed eager to help me out.  I’m making a beeline for his office as soon as I get to Ankara.

I’ll do my best to post some updates from the road!