Turkish PM insistent on giant mosque on Istanbul hill

No winners were announced in the design competition for the mosque. Two projects were given 2nd and 3rd places, with one being declared ‘applicable.’ AA photo

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan reiterates his comments on building a giant mosque on Istanbul’s Çamlıca hill, opening up a controversy with academics who say the mosque project is show-off

Academic and Islamic circles have reacted to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s insistence on building a mosque on Istanbul’s Çamlıca Hill in a controversial project.

Erdoğan has forged ahead with plans for two controversial mosque projects in Istanbul, one on Çamlıca Hill and the other to be built in Taksim Square.

“The beauty of the [planned] mosque on Çamlıca Hill is not that obvious on the model. But it will be very beautiful, trust me,” Erdoğan told a group of journalists aboard a plane en route to the Spanish capital of Madrid from Ankara on Nov. 27.

The prime minister first proposed the idea of building a mosque on the top of Istanbul’s Çamlıca Hill May 29. “This giant mosque in Çamlıca was designed so as to be visible from all parts of Istanbul,” Erdoğan said at the time. However, his idea has continued to drwa reactions from academic and politic circles, creating debate around the issue.

Archeological concerns
Professor Afife Batur from Istanbul Technical University, who specializes in the architecture of the late-Ottoman and Republican periods, said the process was illegal from the get go.

“We said it was an archeological site, they removed the article regarding that area. We said at least do a proper project. They launched a project competition in an illegal way that we never witnesses in Turkish history. ” Batur told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday in a phone interview.

Competition to build a mosque
Üsküdar Municipality and a mosque-building association opened a design project immediately after Erdoğan’s announcement, setting a grand prize of 300,000 Turkish Liras for the winning design.

The competition drew 62 projects but ended without a first-place winner being announced. Two projects were given second and third places, with one of them being declared “applicable.”

According to the winning project, the mosque will occupy a nearly 15,000-square-meter plot and have the capacity to hold approximately 30,000 people.

İhsan Eliaçık, a religious author known for his critiques of capitalism, said the project reflects Erdoğan’s desire to build a “Sultan mosque” in Istanbul just like Süleyman the Magnificent and Fatih Sultan Mehmet did. “Turkey is not in need of even one small mosque since 110,000 nationwide mosques are [now] empty,” Eliaçık said.

“Social justice should come first. There are only seven or eight poorhouse in 17 million populated Istanbul.”
Yet the prime minister has claimed many of the criticisms were groundless.

“They say the green area will be ruined. There is no green area there already,” Erdoğan also said.” Erdoğan said. Erdoğan also said a mosque will be built in Taksim.
(Erdem Güneş / Vercihan Ziflioğlu
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News)

PM announces construction of giant mosque in Istanbul

The mosque on Çamlıca Hill will be visible from all parts of Istanbul, says Erdoğan. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

A 15,000 square-meter mosque will be built on a tract of land in Istanbul’s Çamlıca district, and will be visible from all parts of the city, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced.

“We are going to build a mosque over 15,000 meters square next to the broadcasting tower in Çamlıca. The planning work is nearing completion. I believe the bulldozers will begin working within two months. This giant mosque in Çamlıca was designed so as to be visible from all parts of Istanbul,” Erdoğan said late May 29, while speaking at the opening ceremony of a traditional handicrafts center in the nearby district of Kandilli.

Foundations General Director Adnan Ertem, Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın, Üsküdar Mayor Mustafa Kara and Emine Erdoğan, the prime minister’s wife, also attended yesterday’s ceremony.

The mosque complex will also include facilities underneath the building for traditional crafts, such as “hat” (Turkish calligraphy) and gilding, Erdoğan said. “In other words, just as there used to be madrasahs next to [mosques] in the past, our architects have undertaken to design something similar in this contemporary setting.”

Earlier in the day Erdoğan attended the re-opening of the newly renovated Fatih Mosque and the Mahmut I Library in Istanbul, on the 559th anniversary of the city’s conquest by Ottoman forces. The renovation of these historic buildings took 4.5 years to complete and cost about 24 million Turkish Liras, Erdoğan said.

“Our job is not yet finished. The restoration of the madrasahs on Akdeniz and Haliç Avenues is also beginning. Once they are completed, together with all the landscaping work in the vicinity, this region will be transformed into a very different [area],” Erdoğan said.

Other high-ranking figures attended the ceremony as well, including Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, European Union Minister Egemen Bağış, Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş and Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir. (ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency)

Historical mosque torched in Greek Cyprus

A historical mosque in the Greek Cypriot city of Limasol was torched by unknown assailants on April 13, CNNTürk reported today.

The Turkish Cypriot Religious Directorate's designated official responsible for Greek Cyprus, Şakir Alemdar, reportedly said they were notified of the incident late because of Easter celebrations on the Greek side of the island.

The roof of the Köprülü Hacı İbrahim Ağa Mosque was on the verge of collapse after the assailants poured gasoline and set the building on fire. The mosque's door, wooden porch and one of its windows was burned, while the carpets inside were blackened by the soot from the fire. An epitaph from the Ottoman era fell on the ground and broke, Alemdar said.

Alemdar said the mosque, which was open to worship, was also attacked 15 days previously.

Greek Cypriot police have not detained anyone in relation to the attack and reportedly said it was "the work of some young people." (hurriyetdailynews)