Still at the top: 64 properties transferred to the Diyanet in 1 year!

In 2024, a year in which not a single property was allocated to the Ministry of National Education (MEB) or the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Diyanet once again took the top spot with the transfer of 64 properties. The Presidency of Religious Affairs has once again claimed the top position on the list of public institutions with allocated properties, with 64 properties assigned in 2024. 

According to the report by Mustafa Bildircin from BirGün; the total number of properties allocated to the Diyanet has reached 1,083. This figure remained at 14 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports. 

Data regarding the property allocations made by the General Directorate of Foundations in 2024 has been released. It was stated that 132 charitable properties were allocated in 2024, bringing the total number of allocated charitable properties to 1,890.

IT TOOK THE LARGEST SLICE

The Presidency of Religious Affairs, which had previously incorporated the Heybeliada Sanatorium—Turkey's first pandemic hospital—and the remaining buildings of the Bomonti Beer Factory, only to be forced to relinquish the sanatorium due to a court cancellation decision, did not leave the top spot on the list of allocated properties to anyone in 2024, just as it does almost every year. According to the data from the General Directorate of Foundations, properties given to the Diyanet accounted for 57 percent of the 1,890 total allocated properties reached in 2024. While most properties were allocated to professional chambers, foundations, and associations in 2016 and 2017, the Presidency of Religious Affairs took the lead as of 2018.

THE PRESIDENCY IS AT THE TOP OF THE LIST

With the 64 properties allocated in 2024, the number of properties allocated to the Presidency of Religious Affairs reached 1,083. The Presidency of Religious Affairs ranked first on the list of 18 institutions with its 1,083 allocated charitable properties. Following the Diyanet, foundations ranked second with 260 allocated properties.

Some institutions and the number of their allocated properties are listed as follows:

• Presidency of Religious Affairs: 1,083

• Ministry of National Education: 191

• Municipalities: 164

• Associations: 60

• Ministry of Culture and Tourism: 46

• Universities: 23

• Ministry of Youth and Sports: 14

THE NUMBER HAS MULTIPLIED EVERY YEAR

The Presidency of Religious Affairs, which used 161 foundation properties in 2017, has continuously increased this number. The number of properties allocated to the Diyanet by the General Directorate of Foundations in recent years has been recorded as follows:

2019: 899

2020: 921

2021: 935

2022: 961

2023: 1,019

2024: 1,083

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ALLOCATION FROM ALL SIDES

The Diyanet, which reached a total of 1,083 properties allocated from the General Directorate of Foundations as of 2024, has also incorporated properties in critical locations from municipalities and national real estate directorates. Some of the properties allocated to the Diyanet were reflected in the records as follows:

In 2017, a total of 1,093 imam houses were allocated to the Diyanet on the grounds that they had no living heirs.

The AKP-run Bağcılar Municipality gave the building that had been the center of İSMEK since 2009 to the Istanbul Provincial Mufti's Office of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in 2019 to be used as a "Diyanet Youth Center."

The Istanbul University Botanical Garden was incorporated into the Diyanet by the Fatih Municipality in 2015 to be used for mufti services.

News Source: 12punto