Faith-Based Organizations in Turkey

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with the women who work at Hanımlar Eğtim ve Kültür Vakfı (Women’s Education and Culture Foundation) in Istanbul. This organization provides services to poor women and children—families that for whatever reason lack a male parent. Some of the services the foundation provides include clothes, medical care, food, in-kind donations of furniture and other supplies, and playgroups for children. In addition, the foundation has a scholarship program for medical students, often from the countryside.

The foundation has been in operation for well over a decade, and was started by two women, one a doctor and one a tailor. During its operation, it has grown to employing 25 people with at least four times as many volunteers. The organization is run entirely by women out of the centuries-old Bayrampaşa Complex—a former school for whirling dervishes.

The foundation itself is one that is based on tenets of Islamic faith—that you have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than you, that you should not be able to sleep at night if your neighbor is hungry. While this is not a proselytizing organization—the Turkish government goes to extreme ends to ensure that—it is one that is based on religion, much like the Salvation Army in the United States. Many of the women who work there cover their heads; some do not. The foundation’s domain is the middle ground that sees their work as more important than any religious dogma that inspires it.

Regardless of how one feels about President Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, faith-based organizations in many countries, the United States included, provide the majority of the services given to those in need. These organizations do not necessarily come into conflict with governments based on secularism (separation of religion and state) and laicism (subordination of religion to the state). Rather than serving as conversion grounds for religious zealots, many of these organizations channel their faith into projects to help the most needy.

For many people raised in a secular or laic mentality, myself included, the idea that government money can fund organizations with a moral imperative is frightening. At the same time, a moral imperative is providing a majority of food, clothes and shelter to those who need it most. Finding a balance between a government that doesn’t legislate morals and funding organizations that effectively alleviate poverty is a challenge of which we should all be aware.