On May 3, the head of Diyanet (the Religious Affairs Department) Mehmet Gormez attended the panel “Youth Forum on Attachment, Transformation and the Future” organized by the Diyanet Foundation's Women, Youth and Family Center (KAGEM) and the Political, Economic and Social Research Center (SETA).
What would have been a routine gathering made headlines because Gormez said, “Today’s youth perceives the previous generation’s world as limited and unacceptable. We must acknowledge their perceptions and find a new language to approach them. They resist intervention into their private lives. For example, they ask us if earrings (for men) and tattoos are acceptable. We need to step away from inflexibility and approach them rationally.”