Since the 2010s, the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has turned into a mammoth institution expanding its scope and scale as it pertains to the religious services provided in Turkey and abroad. The reorganisation of the state agency occurred via a redefinition of religious services directed to women, families, children and migrants’ communities living abroad. To implement this, the number of Diyanet’s personnel has skyrocket reaching 130,658 in 2022. This led to a change in religious officers’ status within society which invested their profession, vision and their mission. With the intent to reach more people and to extent religious services the Diyanet has opened new positions for women religious officers to be employed as preachers (vaizeler) and Qur’an teachers. The number of female personnel has increased from 2,696 in 2004 to 17,876 in 2017 to reach 25,056 in 2022. This article investigates the meaning of Diyanet’s policy aimed at expanding the number of women working as preachers in mosques. By directly observing the preacher’s daily engagement in providing women and families with religious services, the contribution alights on how a pious female bureaucrat has come to the foreground. The inclusion of devout women within the state bureaucracy calls into question the evolution of Turkish state’s boundaries over religion and urges a broader redefinition of the intertwined relationship between women, religion and the state in contemporary Turkey.
