Diyanet in Turkey and the Netherlands – Transnational politics and politicization of research
The time that researchers could pretend to work in an academic bubble is definitively over, if it ever existed. Research plays a role in political processes and they are always part of specific power configuration. This is particularly clear in case of the research on Islam and Muslims in Europe. Doing research in the post 9/11 political climate about issues such as the place of Islam in European societies is caught up in a complex political and social web of opposing requirements and assumptions. In this article Thijl Sunier reflects upon his research on the Turkish Diyanet and its relation with the Netherlands understood against the background of fundamental changes in Turkish society.