By Tuncay Kayaoglu

ISTANBUL

“Islam condemns the killing of a person. I would not defend the attackers.”

So says Yakup Uzun, a 24-year-old Turkish student talking about the Paris attacks last month, when gunmen murdered French cartoonists and people shopping in a Jewish supermarket.

Wearing a cap and beard, Uzun, a son of Turkish immigrants to France, is currently a student of theology at Marmara University, Istanbul, which seeks to encourage a new generation of Islamic preachers.

The program is administrated by the university although the project is a brainchild of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs.

The International Theology Project aims to train eager Turks who reside in countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Australia where there are substantial Turkish communities.

During the four-year program, students receive lessons on sociology and education of religion. They can also select classes on contemporary Islamic movements, plus guidance and communication in religious services. Students also spend at least one year learning Arabic.

More than 550 students have enrolled in the undergraduate program and 15 have enrolled for the Master’s degree, according to the directorate’s 2013 annual report.

Thirty-five graduates have been since been employed as imams at mosques in European countries, the report disclosed. The project started in 2006 with just 18 students.

In the wake of the attacks in France by radical Muslims, the importance of this program cannot be overstated.

There are close to 1,000 Turkish mosques in Germany alone where more than 4 million Turkish-origin people live. An estimated 10 million Turkish-origin people live across the European Union countries.

Uzun is aware of the importance of the program: “We will appeal to young generation. That’s why we are here.” His fellow student, 24-year-old Mesut Aslan from Germany, says their mission is special: “We will represent Islam.”

Ahmet Yukleyen, Associate Professor at Istanbul Commerce University and an expert on Muslim populations in Europe, says European leaders are searching for imams who can appeal to a young generation, can lead and are in favor of integration into European societies.

Yukleyen is hopeful that the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs’ current program will address these difficulties.

“European countries look favorably on the directorate’s efforts because of its stance against the Salafi understanding of Islam and its promotion of moderate Islam,” he stated.

“Salafi” is often considered to be fundamentalist Islamic thought.

European countries have tried to train homegrown imams; none has found a perfect solution. Some countries like France have run into conflict with its secular values while some others did not want to interfere in religious rights.

France is now pondering the idea to force foreign imams to take an officially recognized diploma before they can preach at mosques, according to a report by U.K. newspaper The Guardian’s report on Nov. 24.

However, the daily added that some experts noted such an attempt would create conflict with the country’s secular values such as being neutral on religious issues and excluding religious discourse from politics and public areas.

Austria, however, made headlines late last year when proposed legislation was put forward which would ban foreign funding for mosques and imams.

Turkey, despite being an officially a secular country like France, has actively trained imams and employed them when necessary.

Graduates of the Turkish project are expected to replace Turkish imams who serve in foreign countries on rotation. The current practice is to meet demand by assigning a Turkish imam to European mosques on a four-year rotation.

However, these new graduates will perform their duties permanently.

Some Turkish imams currently serving in mosques in Europe do not know the local language and customs. Belonging to a different generation (many tend to be older) and a different culture, these imams can encounter difficulties in understanding the difficulties facing young Turks living in foreign countries, such as discrimination or integration issues.

Uzun says: “They can help in some subjects, such as teaching how to read the Quran and some basic knowledge about Islam. But they are not aware of young people’s problems in those countries.

“They are unprepared to lead the new generation there.”

The young student says that he can naturally sympathize more with his peers in France, unlike Turkish imams.

Can Uzun also appeal to new generation of African countries’ migrants? He thinks he can be relevant to those people as well.

“Recently, those people have begun attending Turkish mosques,” Uzun stressed.

Yukleyen, meanwhile, is less hopeful. “Ethnic groups attend to their own mosques,” he says, suggesting that Turkish imams will not be able to address those migrants.

Uzun’s testimony of the anger and difficulties facing France’s young migrants is a further proof that he can sympathize with them.

Without preaching any sort of violence, he says, Muslims need to stay together. “So that the peace can be established in the world,” he adds.