I do not forgive the Diyanet!

As you know, the tax revenue target for the 2024 budget is 8.3 trillion liras... 

One of the largest expenditure items from this revenue belongs to the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), whose "extravagance" we have been discussing for days... A full 79.7 billion liras will be spent this year on religious services and widespread religious education.

Among the Diyanet's revenues are the Special Consumption Taxes (ÖTV) collected from alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling, which the institution considers "haram" (forbidden).

This is because 413 billion 481 million liras of the taxes the state will collect from us this year will be derived from tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, and cigarettes.

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So, where does the Presidency of Religious Affairs spend this money?

On ostentation!

The building of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, which rivals palaces, looks like a "second palace" in Ankara with both its architecture and its expenses...

The President lives in a very luxurious residence, is protected by dozens of bodyguards, and uses six official vehicles, each more luxurious than the other. 

The institution has become so accustomed to ostentation and luxury that another scandal erupts every day... 

The latest bombshell news came from the Elazığ Harput Religious Specialization Center: 

The Presidency of Religious Affairs held a catering tender on March 26 for "candidate religious officials"...

The tender for 210 days of catering services was won by the Aşsa Grup Yemekçilik company, which offered approximately 13 million liras.

According to this, imam candidates were to be served main courses four days a week such as steak, tenderloin, boiled meat, fried meat, chicken, liver, various kebabs, roast, dry meatballs, İzmir meatballs, women's thigh meatballs (kadınbudu), Dalyan meatballs, and İskender kebab....

On three days of the week, fresh seasonal vegetables, dried vegetable dishes, canned or fresh vegetable dishes with pieces of meat, peas, eggplant moussaka, and stuffed vegetables (dolma and sarma) were to be served.

The veal was to be obtained from calves between 1.5 and 2 years old...

The list goes on and on...

Those who gorge on these meals while the public goes hungry and people cannot even afford to buy 100 grams of meat for their children cannot be men of religion.

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When the AKP came to power, there were 70 thousand mosques; today that number has exceeded 90 thousand...

The number of imams and muezzins was 90 thousand, and now it is approaching 150 thousand.

The state, which deems 10 thousand liras too much for retirees, pays these individuals a net salary of 38 thousand 500 liras per month.

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No secular state pays the salaries of religious officials directly.

It does not build churches, nor does it get involved in religious expenses.

In many countries, these matters are handled by "church foundations." 

For example, in Germany, the revenue from the "church tax" collected from members of Catholic and Protestant churches amounted to 12.6 billion euros last year. Catholic church members pay an average of 291 euros in tax per year, while Protestant church members pay 278 euros.

There are exactly 45 million people who are members of churches in that country!

In 2004, this figure was close to 52 million. In other words, the number of people who resigned from church membership has decreased by 7 million in 20 years.

In Germany, the state does not get involved in any religious spending.

Those who go to church pay taxes; those who do not, do not pay.

In our country, a significant share of the taxes paid to the state by every Turkish citizen, regardless of religion or sect, goes to the Diyanet.

And those who manage it live in wastefulness, contrary to religion.

While the citizen suffers from hunger, they include in the tender specifications that their own personnel must be fed how many kilos of meat per week.

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Let whoever wants to declare me irreligious or an infidel; I will write it now:

* Can a secular state finance religion? 

* Can any economic or political cooperation between the state and religious institutions be accepted? 

* Has the time not yet come for the state, which privatizes everything, to leave the Presidency of Religious Affairs to mosque congregations? 

* Why is the money taken from those who do not believe, or who belong to other religions or sects in our country, used for the "financing of believers"?

* Do the laws regulating religion-politics-trade relations not need to be changed from top to bottom?

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I could list hundreds more questions on this subject. But these are the most fundamental ones...

Like the citizens in Germany, I should be able to decide for myself whether or not I will pay taxes to religious institutions and whether or not I will finance them.

Because I am tired of the current system, which was built with good intentions, being exploited by religious profiteers.

It pains me that while we go hungry, those who profit from our religious sentiments eat steak, tenderloin, boiled meat, fried meat, chicken, liver, kebabs, meatballs, and İskender four days a week...

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Yes; I am rebelling.

And I absolutely do not forgive those who exploit us through religion!