Germany has increased pressure on Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs ( DİTİB) after the organization admitted that some of its preachers spied for the Turkish government and reported on suspected U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen's religious order member.
CDU (Christian Democratic Union) deputy Armin Schuster stated he would bring DİTİB’s alleged spying activities before the parliamentary committee on intelligence which he is a member of. According to Deutsche Welle Turkish, Schuster said he hoped DİTİB, Germany's largest Turkish Islamic group, was not related to these spying activities.
Deputy CDU chairperson Julia Klöckner also said that DİTİB was under the influence of the Turkish government and the German state could not cooperate with this organization if the allegations were true.
Ankara blames US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen and his followers for the 15 July coup attempt. Since the failed coup, close relation between DİTİB and Turkish government has sparked debate in Germany. DİTİB Secretary-General Bekir Alboğa recently said that three imams had wrongly informed on suspected Gülen followers in Germany but they didn’t get instructions from Diyanet (Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs).
While the German Interior Ministry launched an investigation to determine if the information sent by imams to Ankara can be considered as spying, the opposition parties want the accused imams to be deported.
Gülen's Islamist organization had been a close ally of the then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), helping to redesign and install his Islamic-rooted AKP in power in 2002. Gülen's alliance with the AKP has faltered in recent years.
