Land for mosque in Cuba is ready, says Turkish Religious Affairs official

Thursday,November 20 2014, Your time is 10:49:27 PM

Land for mosque in Cuba is ready, says Turkish Religious Affairs official
ISTANBUL

After the Turkish president said a mosque would be appropriate on the
spot where he claims that Muslims discovered the Americas, a site has
reportedly been allocated for a mosque's construction in the Cuban
capital Havana.

Five acres of land in the Old Havana district of the city have been
spared, and Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) is
working towards constructing the mosque, daily Vatan reported on Nov. 20.

Diyanet Vice General Manager Mustafa Tutkun, who is negotiating the
possibility of a mosque's construction in Cuba between Cuban officials
and Turkey, said they had proposed the construction of a mosque similar
to the picturesque Ortaköy Mosque in Istanbul. However, he added that
Cuban officials would prefer the member states of the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation (IOC) to construct the mosque, rather than one country.

"Our foundation is ready to pay the costs of [the mosque]. This idea
first came out as our foundation's project and bilateral visits then
took place. The land where the mosque can be constructed is ready. We
are thinking of building a [mosque] similar to the Ortaköy Mosque," said
Tutkun.

Speaking to an audience at the 1st Latin American Muslim Leaders Summit
in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hit international
headlines by claiming that Muslim sailors arrived in America in 1178,
more than 300 years before Christopher Columbus. He also said Columbus
had mentioned the existence of a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast.

Erdoğan later instructed Turkey's educational institutions to adopt a
policy of highlighting the contribution of Islam to global science and
arts, including the discovery of the American continent by Muslim sailors.

The president underlined that he is not the first to make this
suggestion, referring to claims found in books written by Germany-based
Turkish Professor Fuat Sezgin.

Source: Land for mosque in Cuba is ready, says Turkish Religious Affairs
official - POLITICS -
<http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/land-for-mosque-in-cuba-is-ready-says-turkish-religious-affairs-official-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=74607&NewsCatID=338>