Bardakoğlu: Nobody can interfere in our sermons

"Religious Affairs Directorate head Ali Bardakoğlu said neither politicians nor the European Union can intervene in religious sermons, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

�We prepare sermons without interference from anyone. Nobody has the right to intervene in our sermons,� said Bardakoğlu at the close of a seminar in Antalya, referring to news reports claiming that the directorate was writing religious sermons aligned with the EU.

�The Supreme Board of Religious Affairs, an independent board affiliated with the Religious Affairs Directorate, drafts sermons in accordance with the republic's basic principles -- secularism and democracy -- without taking into consideration the demands or expectations of those from outside,� he said.

�We make decisions on religious issues and allow neither domestic nor international politics to intervene in religion,� Bardakoğlu noted."