The Diyanet Center of America (DCA) is a large Islamic center comprising a mosque, school, and several other facilities located in Lanham, Maryland. DCA is the operating name of the Turkish American Community Center (TACC), a nonprofit organization from which DCA receives funding. DCA is an umbrella group that has more than 20 branches across America and is the central institution in the broader network of Turkish-American mosques and Muslim cultural centers across the United States. 1 2
The Diyanet Center of America (DCA) has been criticized for being the political and propaganda arm of the Turkish government abroad, as it receives funding from the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in Turkey. 3 The Diyanet in Turkey also appoints each imam to DCA branches in the United States. 1
DCA has also received funding from American governments through the Maryland legislature. In August 2023, the Maryland legislature approved two grants to Maryland’s Turkish American Community Center and the DCA totaling almost $300,000 as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. 2
Background
The Diyanet Center of America (DCA), under its founding name “the Turkish American Community Center,” was founded in 1993 by a group of Turkish Americans to provide religious, social and educational services to Turkish immigrants and other Muslims in the United States. TACC’s first action was to purchase 16.5 acres of land in Prince George’s County, Maryland for its facilities which include a mosque, school, fitness center, and other cultural and social gathering spaces. In 2008, TACC members and several Washington D.C.-based Muslims collaborated to commence planning and developing an expansion to the facilities under the business operating name “Diyanet Center of America.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the project and construction began in 2012. President Erdogan participated in a cornerstone-laying ceremony for DCA in 2013, and after the newest DCA facilities opened in 2015, Erdogan participated in its inauguration at a 2016 ceremony. 1 3
The Diyanet Center of America takes its name from the Directorate of Religious Affairs, a government ministry in Turkey which bears the name “Diyanet.” 4
Religious Activities
The Diyanet Center of America (DCA) conducts the customary religious activities of a mosque, including regular Friday congregational prayers, Iftar dinners, Eid celebrations, funerals, and other activities. DCA offers educational services, including Qur’an classes, an Islamic Montessori pre-school, and a Hifz School for older schoolchildren. 5 6 7 DCA also organizes Muslim pilgrimages to Turkey and the Holy Land. 8 9 It also offers several educational, athletic, and religious events specifically for DCA youth, women, and men. 10 11
Controversy
Alleged Turkish Influence
The Diyanet Center of America (DCA), in coordination with its nonprofit, the Turkish American Community Center, is directly tied to and supported by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the President of Religious Affairs in Turkey, Mehmet Gormez. 12 13 14 President Erdogan spoke at DCA’s inauguration in 2016. 13
Several sources have criticized the direct connection between DCA and Erdogan’s Islamist and anti-Western political party and agenda. 4 15 16 DCA has been accused of being the center of a larger propaganda and political network by the Turkish government to spy on and influence its political opponents and dissidents in America. 15 17
Included in this alleged network are prominent anti-American and anti-Israel groups, including the Turkish Heritage Organization (THO), the Turkish American National Steering Committee, the U.S. wing of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MUSAID), the Turken Foundation, the Turkish Coalition of America, and the Turkish Cultural Foundation. These groups were implicated in an investigation into leaked emails between the groups and Erdogan’s son-in law and Turkish Minister of Energy, Berat Albayrak, indicating that Albayrak directed Turkish regime operations in America. 18 The emails showed that Albayrak planned to skirt United States laws by using nonprofits as fronts and engaging in creative strategies like hiring freelance journalists to gain political intelligence. 19
In 2020, a study of the Turkish network in America was conducted by Ahmet Yayla, the director of the Center for Homeland Security at DeSales University. The study concluded that Erdogan’s regime is furthering its influence through other United States-based organizations with ideological ties to Islamist groups like Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami, including the Zakat Foundation, the United States Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the International Institute of Islamic Thought, the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and Zaytuna College. 20 17
A 2018 Fox News article accused DCA mosques of being centers of radicalization for Muslims and Turkish Americans against America and against anti-Erdogan political forces in Turkey, such as Fetullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based cleric who has criticized Erdogan’s regime. 16 In response to the anti-DCA article, DCA board chairman Fahti Kanca defended DCA, arguing that the Fox claims were “absolutely provocative, biased and manipulative.” Kanca argued that the Fox News article was evidence of continued Islamophobia infiltrating the United States. 21
Despite claims of its connection to and promotion of Turkish Islamic extremism, DCA maintains that one of its central objectives is to combat what it calls Islamophobia, claiming as part of its mission to show the true character of Islam as an interfaith religion that pursues peace, truth, and justice. DCA also claims to fight against the mistreatment of Muslims in America following the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. 13
Leadership
Nurullah Celebi is the leading imam and president of the Diyanet Center of America (DCA). 22
Hulya Esin Eroglu, is the secretary-general of DCA. 22
Sibel Ozkan is DCA’s vice president. 22
In February 2024, Fatih Kanca was elected as the new chairman of the board of directors at DCA and assumed the role of Social and Religious Affairs Counselor at the Embassy of Turkey to the United States in Washington, D.C. Kanca is a former associate professor and lecturer at the Faculty of Holy Quran Readings and Sciences at the Yildirim Beyazit University in Ankara, Turkey. Kanca served as the acting chairman of the board of directors at DCA from September 2017 to October 2019. Kanca received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Theology at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. He was a Member of the Fatwa Committee in the Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey between 2012 and 2021. 23
Financials
The Diyanet Center of America (DCA) receives much of its funding through its 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Turkish American Community Center Incorporated. Turkish American Community Center Incorporated’s federal tax returns indicate it is “doing business as” the Diyanet Center of America. The community center also lists the same address as DCA. In 2022, the Turkish American Community Center reported $2,657,649 in revenue, $5,161,801 in expenses, and $83,581,448 in net assets. 24
The Diyanet Center of America complex was built with funds from the Turkish government’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and the Turkey Diyanet Foundation (TVD). The newest DCA facilities were inaugurated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in April 2016 and cost $100 million, according to a Turkish government report. 3
DCA has also received funding from United States governments through the Maryland legislature. In August 2023, the Maryland legislature approved two grants to Maryland’s Turkish American Community Center and the DCA as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, totaling almost $300,000. 2
References
- “Who We Are.” DIYANET CENTER OF AMERICA. January 2016. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/diyanetcenterofamerica.pdf
- Westrop, Sam. “Maryland Legislators Boast of Securing Taxpayer Funding for Hostile Turkish Regime Institution.” Focus on Western ISlamism. August 9, 2023. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.meforum.org/maryland-legislators-boast-of-securing-taxpayer-64680
- “Turkey’s Diyanet is spending more than $70 mln to build mosques abroad.” Turkish Minute. September 23, 2021. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.turkishminute.com/2021/09/23/rkeys-diyanet-spends-over-70-mln-to-build-mosques-abroad/
- Sassounian, Harut. “Erdogan’s Huge Mosque Near Washington Is a Trojan Horse for Turkey’s Interests.” Asbarez. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.asbarez.com/erdogans-huge-mosque-near-washington-is-a-trojan-horse-for-turkeys-interests/
- “Qur’an Class for Adults.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/services/educational-services/quran-class/
- “DCA Montessori Program.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/services/educational-services/dca-montessori-program/
- “DCA Hifz School.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/services/educational-services/hifz/
- “2025 Hac Program.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/services/religious-services/hac/
- “2025 Hajj Program.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/services/religious-services/hajj/
- “Events – DCA Youth” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/events/categories/dca-youth/
- “Events – DCA Adult.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/events/categories/dca-adult/
- “President Erdoğan meets with representatives of Turkish-American community at Diyanet Center of America.” PResidency of the Republic of Turkey. November 14, 2019. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://tccb.gov.tr/en/news/542/112544/president-erdogan-meets-with-representatives-of-turkish-american-community-at-diyanet-center-of-america
- Özkan, Abdülkadir. “Diyanet Center of America: An epicenter in the fight against Islamophobia.” Daily Sabah. April 12, 2016. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2016/04/12/diyanet-center-of-america-an-epicenter-in-the-fight-against-islamophobia
- Harris, Hamil R. “Turkish Cultural Center to open in Lanham amid tensions Over Islam.” Washington Post. March 31, 2016. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/turkish-cultural-center-to-open-in-lanham-amid-tensions-over-islam/2016/03/31/7278e840-f5c3-11e5-a3ce-f06b5ba21f33_story.html
- Stern, Marilyn. “Benjamin Baird on Turkey’s Malign Influence Network in America.” Middle East Forum. December 6, 2021. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.meforum.org/baird-turkeys-malign-influence-network-in-america
- McKay, Hollie. “Critics say Turkish government using US mosques to play politics, spy on foes.” Fox News. July 17, 2018. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.foxnews.com/world/critics-say-turkish-government-using-us-mosques-to-play-politics-spy-on-foes
- Mauro, Ryan. “Turkey’s NGO Network in America.” Capital Research Center. September 6, 2023. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/turkeys-ngo-network-in-america/
- Smith, Adam. “The Turkish Regime’s U.S. NGO Network.” Focus on WEstern Islamism. March 11, 2022. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://islamism.news/research/investigations/the-turkish-regimes-u-s-ngo-network/
- Ross, Chuck. “The Turkish Regime’s U.S. NGO Network.” Daily Caller. March 15, 2017. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://dailycaller.com/2017/03/15/revealed-turkeys-plan-to-camouflage-its-lobbying-activities-in-the-us/
- Yayla, Ahmet S. “ERDOGAN’S LONG ARM IN THE US: Turkish Influence Operations Among American Muslims.” The Investigative Journal. May 2020. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.yaacovapelbaum.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/report_v1.4.pdf
- “US: Fox News report on Maryland mosque draws criticism.” Anadolu Agency. July 19, 2018. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-fox-news-report-on-maryland-mosque-draws-criticism/1208352
- “Departments.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/about-us/departments/
- “Assoc. Prof. Fatih Kanca is the new Chairman of the DCA.” Diyanet Center of America. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://diyanetamerica.org/news/assoc-prof-fatih-kanca-is-the-new-chairman-of-the-dca/
- “Turkish American Community Center Inc – 2022 Federal 990 Form.” ProPublica. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521827831/202420969349300532/full