VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Religious Attaché of the Turkish Embassy in Indonesia are exploring opportunities for cooperation in the programme of sending reciters/qariahs to the development of Religious Moderation Villages.

This was discussed in a meeting between the Director of Islamic Religious Information of the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs Ahmad Zayadi and the Head of the Turkish Religious Attaché Abdulhamid Eşmeli at the Ministry of Religious Affairs Office, Jakarta.

Ahmad Zayadi said in a statement in Jakarta, Friday, 25 October, that the meeting discussed opportunities to send reciters, mosque imams, the implementation of daurah dai daiyah, the Ramadan Festival, to international conferences, calligraphy exhibitions and Islamic cultural propagation. Ahmad Zayadi said this cooperation would strengthen bilateral relations in the religious field.

Zayadi also invited the Turkish Religious Attache to visit the Religious Moderation Village in Indonesia. According to him, the village can be an example of the application of tolerance and inter-religious harmony.

In addition, Zayadi hopes that there will soon be a cooperation agreement through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Diyanet Presidency of Religious Affairs, the religious authority in Turkey, to facilitate the implementation of religious programmes in the future.

Meanwhile, Turkey's Religious Attaché, Abdulhamid Eşmeli, welcomed this cooperation. He explained that Diyanet had previously collaborated with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia in distributing sacrificial animals and providing scholarships. So far, Diyanet has distributed sacrificial animals in the Disadvantaged, Frontier and Outermost regions through NGOs and provided scholarships for Indonesian high school and undergraduate students to study in Turkey.

Abdulhamid also invited the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs to make an official visit to the Diyanet Office in Ankara to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of religion.