Albania: Biggest mosque in the Balkans planned
Turkey wants to have the biggest mosque in the Balkans built at Tirana in Albania, stated the director of the Foundation for the Religions of the Turkish State, Ismail Palakoglu, on October 27, 2014, to news agency Anadolu. The building is to be topped with four minarets and to hold 4,500 faithful. The Islamic centre is also to include a conference hall, exhibition areas and a museum, and construction is expected to be complete in two years.
Turkey has traditionally considered itself to be the “protector” of the Moslem communities in the Balkans, a territory that it occupied from the time of the Ottoman Empire until the early 20th century.
(Sources: kipa-apic.ch – DICI no. 304, 07/11/14)
For further reading :
Turkey: Will the Basilica-Museum St. Sophie Become a Mosque?
United Kingdom: London rejects plans to build the largest mosque in Europe
United States: Report on the number of American mosques
