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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=turkey

Note: The following blog entry is a quote:

http://www.thememriblog.org/turkey/blog_personal/en/2303.htm

Imam Is Fired Because of His Secular Lifestyle

Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) ended the employment of Ahmet Akpinar, a deputy imam in a small town of Antalya, because his actions, attitude, faith and religious conduct were not in accordance with Islamic lifestyle; that he allegedly danced and drank at weddings. Diyanet claimed that Akpinar’s dressing style and his social life did not match those of a religious personality.
Akpinar took the matter to the High Administrative Court to get his job back. He said that for four years he has carried out all the duties of an imam diligently as a civil servant of a secular state. Imam Akpinar in his statement said, “I wore the appropriate religious garbs to conduct prayers but beyond my working hours, in my private life, I dressed in suits and ties, regularly shaved and acted like the rest of the secular, modern society. It is for this that I am being punished. I never drink alcohol.”
Source: Aksam, July 30, 2007

Posted at: 2007-07-30