The establishment of a state-financed imam training is the logical continuation of the more recent German religious policy.
Since the failure of the long-established cooperation with the DITIB, the German arm of the Turkish religious authority, the foundations for a more independent Islam have been built up in Germany step by step.
In the beginning there were the institutes for Islamic theology at some universities. Now there is an institution for the professional training of its graduates. The third step should be to secure the professional prospects of the trained imams financially. Because the Islamic associations that are willing to cooperate will be too weak for that in the long term.
With every further step, however, the government agencies find themselves on increasingly sensitive territory. Because instead of a clearer separation between the state and the religious communities, in the case of Islam there is an ever increasing intermingling. The religious and ideological neutrality of the state is thereby stretched to the limit. The chosen path of conditional state aid is nevertheless the right one. Because it is not foreseeable in which direction Turkey and other Islamic states will develop in the long term.