Do we need these imams?

AK Party has been frequently accused as a party with an Islamic agenda. The party vehemently denies it has any connections with political Islam that has been the target of the strong military backed secularist establishment in Turkey for several decades.

So what is the issue?

The AK Party government originally wanted to recruit Muslim preachers simply because there is a serious deficit of these people in our mosques. About 13 years ago there were 83,000 Muslim preachers in Turkey catering for about 55 million people. Today our population is well beyond the 67 million mark and we only have 70,000 preachers which shows a serious deficit.

AK Party argues that Turkey needs at least 15,000 preachers to fill the deficit. Others say this is unacceptable as it will only boost the power of the party by providing favors to its pro-Muslim supporters. They sway the IMF has put serious limits in the civil servants to be employed by the government. They say AK Party is allowed only 38,000 new recruits and reserving 15,000 for preachers at the cost of teachers and medical personnel is a scandal. AK Party, however, points out that if the state does not fill the deficit of preachers others with ulterior motives will do the job and thus real zealots may be installed by these groups to preach to the people and thus promote political Islam.

AK Party may be justified in these arguments. Yes, our people should be preached by well trained people and should not be fed the wrong teachings which have nothing to do with Islam. However, we feel the AK Party government has once again made a mistake of taking a step without calculating its consequences.

They should have realized that this is an extremely touchy issue that creates deep sensitivities in the military as well as certain quarters of our society. Why bring up the issue now when we are going through a sensitive period where people are playing the tight rope acts as we legislate sweeping reforms including reducing the role of the military in domestic issues?

As these are explosive issues the government should have prepared a solid case for recruiting these preachers, should have made good public relations to convince the masses that such a move is needed and then should have made its move. Such actions in a parliamentary commission only raises question marks about the real intentions of the government.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his colleagues should appreciate these and act accordingly.