Erdoğan says huge mosque planned for İstanbul hill

Erdoğan, while speaking at the opening ceremony for a cultural center funded by the Üsküdar Municipality on Tuesday night, listed the mosques in İstanbul that are either being renovated or will be built. Just hours earlier, he had attended a re-opening ceremony, following renovations, for the Fatih Mosque in the Fatih district of İstanbul. The re-opening of the mosque, which was built by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, coincided with the 559th anniversary of the conquest of İstanbul by the same sultan.

The prime minister said the Mimar Sinan Mosque in Ataşehir, which is expected to be completed by July, will be a “great mosque on a 6,000-square-meter plot.” He added that another four or five similar mosques will be built in its vicinity.

Erdoğan said the most important addition will be the new mosque to be built in Çamlıca near the TV tower, which will occupy a nearly 15,000-square-meter plot. He noted that the architects of the project have finished drafting the blueprints for the mosque. Erdoğan predicted that work on the new structure will begin within two months. He further noted that there will be other facilities within the mosque where courses on Ottoman calligraphy, gilding and ebru (paper marbling) will be offered. The mosque has been designed in such a way that it will be visible from every corner of İstanbul.