Hessen terminates cooperation with Ditib Mosque Association

WIESBADEN. The Hessian state government has ended cooperation with the Turkish mosque association Ditib on Islamic religious education. The cooperation will expire at the end of the school year, said culture minister Alexander Lorz (CDU) according to Hessischer Rundfunk.

Lorz justified the move with doubts about Ditib's independence from the Turkish government. According to the report, structures would have been identified “that stand in the way of our ideas of independence,” said the Christian Democrat. The reason for the review of the mosque association was the coup attempt in Turkey in 2016 and the behavior of the government. Ditib had previously announced that it would file an appeal against an end to the cooperation in religious education.

Hessen would continue to work with the Muslim Ahmadiyya community. The organization had already been recognized as a corporation under public law in the state in 2013 . According to the Basic Law, corporations under public law have the privilege, among other things, of levying taxes on their members, enacting laws for their own organization or establishing their own civil service.

Source:
Junge Freiheit