Imams suspected of spying for Erdogan in Germany

Meanwhile, the Turkish religious authority Diyanet has denied spying on Gülen’s supporters in Germany on their behalf. Diyanet never commissioned imams of the Turkish Islam Association DITIB to provide information on members of their community, said Diyanet chief Mehmet Görmez on Wednesday to German journalists in Ankara. The DITIB imams in Germany only tried to "protect" the faithful from the movement of the preacher Fethullah Gülen accused by the Turkish authorities of organizing a military coup in Turkey on 15 - 16 July, 2016.

"Of course it is not possible to accept these accusations. No imam is allowed to share "information about the private life of someone from his own community", said Görmez .

The head of the Turkish Department for Religious Affairs also assured that Diyanet is a religious institution and not an instrument of Turkish foreign policy..

The Turkish-Islamic Union of Religious Institutions in Germany (DITIB) is the largest Muslim associations in Germany, which includes 900 mosques. The association is ultimately under the control of Turkish President Erdogan and it is perceived by the German authorities as a mouthpiece of the Turkish leader. German politicians are demanding from the union to distance itself from the policy of Erdogan.

German media periodically report that the DITIB at the request of the Turkish consulates in Germany monitors criticism of the Turkish President and transmits the information to the consulate.

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