Directorate General Of Foundations (Turkey)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Directorate General of Foundations (), founded 3 March 1924, is a Turkish governmental body responsible for managing and auditing ''waqfs'' (), which are inalienable charitable endowments established under
Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
. These ''waqfs'' date back to the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and continue to function today.


History

The establishment of the ''Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü'' was part of
Atatürk's Reforms Atatürk's reforms ( or ''Atatürk Devrimleri''), also referred to as the Turkish Revolution (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Devrimi''), were a series of political, legal, religious, cultural, social, and economic policy changes, designed ...
. It was established under the authority of
Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the head of government of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Tu ...
,
İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...
on 3 March 1924, alongside the Directorate of Religious Affairs (). These two departments replaced the Ottoman era ministry with the responsibility of governing Islamic affairs, the Ministry of Sharia and the Foundations (). This ministry had survived the
Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...
into the Republican era and the 1st government of Turkey. Aside from its stated responsibilities, a secondary aim was to enable the confiscation by the state of properties belonging to traditionally non-Muslim minorities, including
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
,
Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
, and
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
, by transferring such properties into foundations so that they could be placed under the administration of the ''Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü''. However, starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the ''VGM'' would frequently seize and dispose of real-estate assets belonging to religious minorities on the basis of dubious court decisions. A notable example of this was the confiscation of the Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp in 1984.


Responsibilities

The directorate manages the estates and restorations of around 18,500 historical buildings and 67,000 estates. The directorate employs about 38,000 people. It also handles charity organisations, such as food or monetary support, based on the charters of the managed foundations. Currently, actions of 4,500 foundations are audited by the directorate. As of March 2017 the Directorate General of Foundations has a 58.5% share stake in VakıfBank In May 2017, reports emerged that the Turkish government was considering a draft law to transfer that 58.5 percent stake, worth around $2.5 billion, to V''akıf Katılım Bankası'' because it is sharia-compliant.Turkey considering draft law to transfer $2.5 bln VakifBank stake -Islamic lender chairma

/ref>


References

Turkish governmental institutions Foundations based in Turkey {{Turkey-org-stub