Austria’s largest Islamic association is caught up in a mega scandal: high-ranking officials are alleged to have diverted donations to prostitutes, among other things. The affair highlights a fundamental problem of Islamic associations: a lack of transparency.
The Turkish newspaper Sözcü dropped a bombshell on Friday that has caused uproar not only in Austria but also in Ankara. And the accusations are not coming from “Islam haters”, but from the very top: The Turkish religious authority Diyanet has been conducting an investigation in Vienna for five years into the alleged misuse of donations, bringing to light many things that Allah has forbidden: donations collected on a variety of occasions are said to have been misappropriated.
At the center of the affair: the Austrian-Turkish Islamic Union (ATIB), the largest mosque association in Austria and, alongside the Islamic Federation (AIF), a dominant organization of the Islamic Religious Community (IGGÖ) with 63 mosque associations.
The Turkish TV station Veryansin calls it an “escort scandal”. The most spectacular accusation relates to the use of donations collected on Fridays and Islamic holidays for “escort ladies”, i.e. prostitutes. At least four escort women are said to have been hired with the embezzled funds.
Employees working abroad are accused, including Imam F.M.K. and M.Ş., who were responsible for the Diyanet foundations in Austria and the ATIB. They are said to have already been dismissed. According to Diyanet, Sözcü reports, the dismissals were due to “indiscipline and inadequacies”. The embezzled funds are said to have come from hajj (pilgrimage), kurban (sacrificial animal donations) and book sales as well as from the burial fund. The illegal expenditure was disguised using false accounting data such as “costs for residence permits, rents, etc.”.
Süzcü also reports on alleged bribery attempts by the suspects in Vienna: Diyanet investigators are said to have been invited to luxurious events in order to influence the results of the investigation.
One of those dismissed is said to be related to a former minister of the Turkish ruling party the AKP, which fuels speculation about a possible cover-up attempt: The investigations by the Diyanet, which reports directly to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dragged on for five years and have only now been leaked.
It is no coincidence that media critical of the regime reported on it. The Sözcü newspaper, founded in 2007, is published by BEME Media AG, which is registered in Switzerland, and is considered one of the most prominent media houses in Turkey with a clear anti-government orientation. The paper is highly critical of the policies of President Erdoğan and the AKP. It has been the target of legal action on several occasions – such as arrest warrants against founder Burak Akbay and his staff. Pro-government circles accuse Sözcü of having links to the Gülen movement (FETÖ), which the paper strictly rejects. The TV station Veryansin is also critical of Erdogan.
Information from the Austro-Turkish community, according to which the affair triggered a personnel change at the Turkish embassy in Vienna two years ago, is an indication of what appears to have been a long and successful cover-up attempt. A high-ranking Attache was ordered back to Turkey in August 2023, where he was district mufti until last January, before being appointed Diyanet advisor. However, his name can no longer be found in the religious authority’s organization chart.
The ATIB head office in Vienna has remained silent about the affair. Written and telephone inquiries from exxpress have so far gone unanswered. According to Turkish media, the Austrian authorities have already been informed about the scandal.
The Federal Chancellery’s Cultural Affairs Office, which is responsible for religious affairs, informed exxpress that it will request a statement from the association regarding the Turkish media reports. In addition, an investigation by the Cultural Affairs Office into foreign funding in the ATIB is currently underway.
The affair raises the question of fundraising activities in the context of Islamic organizations in Austria. ATIB is not the only organization that collects donations on many occasions. There is even an Islamic counterpart to the Catholic Caritas, namely the Hasene organization belonging to the Islamic Federation (= Milli Görüs), which is active worldwide and also collects donations on many occasions in the Turkish community – including for Gaza.
In contrast to Caritas, however, Hasene does not offer any transparency: although handovers of relief supplies to those in need are repeatedly published on social media, inquiries about the exact balance of donations and the detailed use of the funds repeatedly go unanswered by Hasene Austria, even though donations to this organization are tax-deductible.
Maybe these Akbar leaders considered these ‘women of the right hand’ as is described in the Koran. No problem then.