Determinaciones de los polimorfismos estudiados

Opponents of both the AKP and Diyanet have suggested that the current government reveals a hidden religious agenda by increasing the amount of personnel and budget of Diyanet. However, it is difficult to substantiate this claim based on the statistics of Diyanet itself. The table below shows the increase in the number of personnel throughout the years. Besides yearly fluctuations, the total increase in the number of personnel between 1998-2008 is 4.2 percent (see below).

Table 1: Number of personnel, 1998 - 200821 Year Personnel 1998 79 685 1999 77 795 2000 75 433 2001 76 044 2002 74 374 2003 74 114 2004 71 693 2005 80 299 2006 79 810 2007 84 195 2008 83 033

As the vast majority of Diyanet personnel works as imam and preacher in mosques, these figures must be related to the number of mosques in the same period. The table below shows the number of mosques, with a total increase of 8.5 percent between 1998-2008.

Table 2: Number of mosques and personnel, 1998 - 200822

Year Mosques Personnel

1998 73 772 79 685 1999 74 356 77 795 2000 75 002 75 433 2001 75 369 76 044 2002 75 941 74 374 2003 76 445 74 114 2004 77 151 71 693 2005 77 777 80 299 2006 78 608 79 810 2007 79 096 84 195 2008 80 053 83 033

21_{İstatistiksel Tablolar / Personel Sayısı (Statistical Tables / Number of Personnel)}

Retrieved from Diyanet’s official website.

http://www.Diyanet.gov.tr/turkish/tanitim/istatistiksel_tablolar/1_personel/1_1_personel_sa yisi.xls

22_{İstatistiksel Tablolar / Cami Sayısı (Statistical Tables / Number of Mosques) Retrieved}

from Diyanet’s official website.

The first table shows that the number of personnel in 2008 is higher than in 1998; however, in certain years – especially between 1998 and 2004 - the number of personnel sharply decreases. On the other hand, the number of mosques has a steady trend of increasing in these years, and these new mosques necessitate an increase in the number of Diyanet personnel. Thus the normal trend in the number of personnel does not match the increase in the number of the mosques. This point is frequently raised by the current AKP government when the opposition and media criticise the increase in Diyanet personnel.23

In 2005, 30.8 percent of the mosques did not have Diyanet personnel (Çakır and Bozan 2005: 22). Moreover, the government emphasises the fact that the state does not build mosques in Turkey; it is the people themselves who fund and maintain mosques. The only thing the state should do is appoint imams to these mosques. The government, for that reason, declared that 15,000 people would be hired in 2010

The government argues that the current number of personnel is far from satisfying the needs of the mosques in Turkey. Many mosques in the countryside do not have any personnel appointed by Diyanet. As we can see, the numbers and percentages of total increase support this view.

24

When the number of Diyanet personnel is analysed in more detail, it can be observed that the biggest portion of personnel graduated from the High School for Imams and Preachers. The group with a lower education level is a minority compared to the rest of the personnel.

, marking the sharpest increase in the number of the personnel since 1998.

23

See for instance ‘3 kadrodan biri Diyanet’e’ (One out of every three cadres is provided to Diyanet), (2009, November 10), Vatan. Retrieved from

http://w9.gazetevatan.com/haberdetay.asp?detay=3_kadrodan_biri_Diyanete&tarih=09.01. 2010&Newsid=270104&Categoryid=2

24 _{Diyanet’e 15 bin kadro müjdesi (Good news for Diyanet: 15,000 cadres), (2007, March}

Table 3: Number of personnel by education level, 200825

Number Percentage

Total 83 033 100.00

Bachelor’s degree (Religious higher education) 8 812 10.61

Bachelor’s degree 5 770 6.95

Associate degree 11 938 14.38

Associate degree (Religious higher education) 20 935 25.21 High school for Imams and Preachers 32 691 39.37

High school and equivalent 1 124 1.35

Junior high school and equivalent 1 195 1.44

Primary school 568 0.68

The percentage of women among Diyanet personnel is increasing; this increase took place especially in the mid-2000s (Gözaydın 2009: 106). However, according to the numbers, in 2008 only 3,710 women worked for Diyanet, hardly 4.5 percent.26 On the other hand, Diyanet recently spoke out about their intention to decrease this gender gap through the use of positive discrimination in favour of women.27

As mentioned above, the AKP government has been criticised for increasing the number of Diyanet personnel. A similar criticism is raised against Diyanet’s share of the state budget. The opposition parties and secular media consider the increased funding a reflection of Islamisation within the state. In this vein, Turkish newspapers stated that Diyanet’s budget is larger than those of 37 other state

25_{İstatistiksel Tablolar / Öğrenim Durumuna Göre Personel Sayısı (Statistical Tables /}

Number of Personnel with respect to education level) Retrieved from Diyanet’s official website.

http://www.Diyanet.gov.tr/turkish/tanitim/istatistiksel_tablolar/1_personel/1_2_ogrenim_d urumlarina

gore_personel_sayisi.xls

26 _{‘Diyanet İşleri’nde 3 bin 710 kadın görev yapıyor.’ (3,710 women work in Diyanet),}

(2008, July 7), Sabah. Retrieved from

http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2008/07/07/haber,004FD00AAFAE447BA45481A5CA3BB95B.h tml

27

‘Diyanet’ten kadına pozitif ayrımcılık’ (Positive discrimination towards women by Diyanet), (2009, November 8), Milliyet. Retrieved from

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/Guncel/HaberDetay.aspx?aType=HaberDetayArsiv&KategoriI D=24&ArticleID=1159507

bodies, and comes in the 7th place after, among others, health care, education, the army, and the Justice Department.28

However, a more balanced study of Diyanet’s budget by Gözaydin shows that Diyanet’s share in the national budget has been relatively constant since 1951, when it was raised from 0.2 to 0.6 percent of the total budget. Since then, the percentage has always hovered between 0.5 and 1.0 percent (with two exceptions where the budget was raised to slightly above one percent of the national budget, in 1965-67 and 1990-91). The table below shows the proportion of Diyanet’s budget in relation to the total budget since 1993:

Table 4: Diyanet’s share in the Budget29

Year percentage 1993 0.9 1994 1.0 1995 0.9 1996 0.6 1997 0.7 1998 0.7 1999 0.6 2000 0.5 2001 0.6 2002 0.6 2003 0.5 2004 0.6 2005 0.7 2006 0.8 2007 0.8 2008 0.9 2009 0.7

28 ‘Diyanet bütçesi 37 kurumu solladı.’ (Diyanet’s budget exceeds that of 37 departments), (2006, October 24), Hürriyet. Retrieved from

http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=5309772

Figures like these should of course be interpreted against the background of a more thorough analysis of Turkey’s public finance arena, which falls outside the scope of this study. However, these figures suffice to show that the somewhat alarmist opinions, which suggest a drastic increase in public funding of religion, are premature.

Indeed, data on Turkey’s public finance show that Diyanet’s budget reached its peak during the rule of centre-right parties. In 1966, when the Justice Party was in power, Diyanet’s share was 1.89 percent of the national budget. In 1990, during the one-party government, the centre-right Motherland Party, Diyanet’s share was 1.23 percent (Çakır and Bozan 2005: 105). During the reign of the AKP governments, the percentage has been much lower.

When the budget of Diyanet is analysed in more detail, it can be observed that the majority is used for personnel expenditures.

Table 5: Budget appropriation of year 200930

YTL Current Expenditures 2 426 678 398 1)Personnel Expenditures 2 206 919 000 2)Other Current Expenditures

219 759 398 Investments 16 991 000 Transfers 1 947 000 Total Budget 2 445 616 398

30_{İstatistiksel Tablolar / 2008-2009 Yılları Bütçe Ödenekleri (Statistical Tables / Budget}

Appropriation of 2008-2009) Retrieved from Diyanet’s official website.

http://www.diyanet.gov.tr/turkish/tanitim/istatistiksel_tablolar/6_butce/2009_yili_butce_od enegi.xls