Mehmet Rifat BÖREKÇİ (01.04.1924 - 05.03.1941)

 

Mehmet Rifat Börekçi was the first President of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. He was born on 15th of the fifth lunar month in 1277 (November 29, 1860) in Ankara. He attended primary and secondary school in Ankara. He took lessons in Arabic and Islamic sciences from Atıf Bey who was a mudarris (a teacher who gave lessons in mosques during the Ottoman period) in Beyazıd, Istanbul and got his consent. Then he returned to Ankara and started working at Fazliye madrasa (Muslim theological school) as a mudarris. He trained many students and gave his consent. He started working at Fazliye madrasa in Ankara as a mudarris that was his first official post. He was appointed, as a member of the court of appleals in Ankara on October 10, 1898.He became the mufti of Ankara on November 25, 1908.In 1911 he was acting district governor of Sivrihisar for some time.

 

On the first days of the war of independence, he founded a countrywide resistance organization and became its President.

He worked with Mustafa Kemal Pasha on those dark and bitter days when preparations were made for a struggle against the enemy in narrow circumstances and provided moral and material support for this struggle.

 

He was then accepted a rebel by the Istanbul government, was dismissed from his position as mufti (1920) and sentenced to death. However, the Ankara government immediately reappointed Rifat Efendi as mufti. He was a member of parliament for Muğla in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) fors ix months. However he preferred his duty as mufti and left his position of member of parliament on October 27, 1920.He was a member of the Minisitry of Religious Affairs and Foundations (Şer’iye Vekâleti Heyet-i İftaiye) between 23.12.1922 and 30.03.1924. He was appointed President of Religious Affairs on April 04, 1924 and remained in his position as President until his death on March 5 1941.