France Raises Fund of Religious Affairs

A religious Affairs Fund has been created in order to deal with the problems confronting Muslims during mosque construction and in relation to other religious matters. The fund, which comes under the umbrella of the French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM), will supply finances for the training of imams and for the construction of mosques. According the French law, the state cannot supply funds to religious groups. The fund will organize the funds of charities coming from both inside and outside of France. The donations to the fund, which is established in the statute of a ‘non-profit association’, will be excluded from paying 66 percent of tax. Moreover, many Arab countries are said to be preparing to make overwhelming donations. CFCM’s Turkish General Secretary Haydar Demiryurek noted that many mosques in France remained unfinished because of money shortages and pointed out that the fund will extend to solving a great deal of Muslims’ financial problems in France. The Turkish Islam Unity (DITIP) French Representative will be represented at the 15-seat executive board meeting in France of The Turkish Muslims Coordination Committee. The CFCM General Secretary Haydar Demiryurek and Filiz Önalan are anticipated take up seats in the executive board of the fund as the founding members.