According to the information from the Office of Religious Affairs, the aim of the project is to better educate women about religion. A total of 196 women preachers appointed to all but 15 provinces in Turkey aim to give religious education to women.

The Religious Affairs initiated the project to prevent women from having a religious approach based on superstition, which is quite widespread among women in Turkey due to the low levels of literacy. The office says it aims to "educate women into abandoning superstitions and teach them religion right from the source."

According to the Religious Affairs, women are the key to solving the problems of the family, which is the backbone of the society, to create healthy family structures and thus a healthy societal life.

Nejat Bal, the head of press and public relations at the Office of Religious Affairs, confirmed a report in the "Aksiyon" (Action) magazine, which said the Religious Affairs targets to "reach about 35 million women who make up half of the country's population."

The highest number of women preachers were appointed to Istanbul because of its size and high population. The Office of Religious Affairs is also planning to appoint women preachers to the provinces of Afyon, Aksaray, Aydin, Bilecik, Bitlis, Cankiri, Eskisehir, Gumushane, Kars, Kirikkale, Kirsehir, Mus, Nevsehir, Osmaniye and Batman. There currently are no women preachers in those provinces.

According to the Aksiyon magazine, there are 33,457,192 women in Turkey. Five million of the women work while 19,114,000 are unemployed.

Reaching the unemployed women is a priority of the Office of Religious Affairs. Professor Doctor Ali Bardakoglu, the head of Religious Affairs, told the Aksiyon magazine that women make up the first chain in education with the mother being the first educator in a family. "We aim to reach the 35 million Turkish women," Aksiyon magazine quoted Bardakoglu as saying. (AD/EA/YE)