Istanbul: Concerns about religious freedom in Turkey have been growing since early June, when a new law gave the Diyanet the right to ban translations of the Quran that do not comply with its interpretation of Islam. Turkeys Presidency of Religious Affairs, known as the Diyanet, is one of the country's most influential authorities. According to Deutsche Welle, the Diyanet employs over 140,000 people and offers religious services in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1924, the Diyanet has reported directly to Islamic-conservative president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2018. Its annual budget of approximately £3 billion ($3.47 billion) surpasses those of several ministries, including the Ministry of Interior. The Diyanet manages 90,000 mosques across Turkey, organizes Quran courses, cultural events, and annual pilgrimages, and coordinates slaughters for the Feast of Sacrifice. It also trains imams and deploys them both domestically and internationally. Its foundation is active in 150 countries and reaches mil lions of people through educational programs and scholarships worldwide. Critics argue that the new law effectively amounts to censorship. Theologians critical of the government have described it as state-enforced Islam that threatens religious freedom. Sonmez Kutlu, a well-known theologian, contends that a country with such extensive religious infrastructure should address problematic translations through intellectual and scientific methods rather than bans. He also warns of potential investigations and prosecutions for translations that allegedly contradict Islam's fundamental characteristics. Theologian Ihsan Eliacik views the Diyanet's new authority as a fundamental violation of faith. He argues that no institution should stand between people and Allah, and that the Diyanet's review of the Quran for truthfulness does exactly that. Eliacik's translation of the Quran was previously banned by the Diyanet, and although he successfully appealed to the Constitutional Court, the new legal provisions make such actions impossible. In recent years, theologians critical of the government, including Eliacik and Kutlu, have faced smear campaigns from pro-government brotherhoods and Islamist orders. Omer Ozsoy, a theology professor at Goethe University in Frankfurt, attributes the new law to the influence of these religious orders on the government. He notes that these groups have opposed academic, critical, and pluralistic theology at Turkey's Islamic theological faculties for about a decade. Ozsoy fears the new law could be applied broadly with repressive and politically motivated interpretations. He reports that translator colleagues have indicated the Diyanet is prepared to impound several translations, including those by Mustafa Oztrk and Edip Yuksel. Quran translations are crucial for making the texts accessible to non-Arabic speakers. However, translations involve interpretations, especially for ambiguous words or passages, making them a sensitive topic. In Turkey, the significance of Quran translations has gro wn, with lay believers increasingly reading the Quran and interpreting it independently. According to Ozsoy, the number of Turkish Quran translations has increased in recent decades, with many translators lacking professional qualifications. This issue is widely discussed among experts, with extensive academic literature on the subject. Religion has become a central point of Turkish social discourse, particularly among young people who are reading scripture and questioning theories. President Erdogan has repeatedly emphasized his desire to raise a "pious generation." However, recent studies by the opinion research institute KONDA indicate a decline in the proportion of people identifying as religious, from 55% in 2018 to 46% now, while the percentage of atheists or non-believers has risen from 2% to 8% during the same period.