President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has appointed Istanbul Mufti Professor Safi Arpaguş as the new head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), replacing Ali Erbaş, whose term has ended after the completion of his term, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette.
Born in 1967 in Amasya’s Gümüşhacıköy district, Arpaguş graduated from Marmara University’s Faculty of Theology in 1990 and began his academic career there two years later. He earned his master’s degree with a thesis on the Sufi scholar Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi and completed his doctorate on Rumi’s religious teaching methods. He became an associate professor in 2008 and a full professor in 2014, focusing on Sufism, Mevlana, the Masnavi, and the Mevlevi order.
He served as vice dean of Marmara University’s Faculty of Theology between 2011 and 2021 before being appointed Istanbul Mufti. In November 2023, he drew attention for participating in a memorial service at Dolmabahçe Mosque, where he prayed for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his comrades on the 85th anniversary of Atatürk’s death—a gesture that contrasted with his predecessor Erbaş, who did not publicly credit Atatürk during his eight-year tenure.
