Çamlıca mosque to get highest minarets

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A 15,000 square-meter mosque, which will be visible from all parts of the city is planned to be be built on a tract of land in Istanbul’s Çamlıca district. Hürriyet photo

Details about the giant mosque set to be built on Istanbul’s Çamlıca Hill have revealed that the mosque will have the highest minarets in the world, its architect said.

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 announced on May 29. Hacı Mehmet Güner, the public works director of Kahramanmaraş’ municipality became the head architect of the project upon Erdoğan’s order following the announcement, daily Milliyet reported.

 “The project is very demanding in terms of its size. We will build an even larger dome than our ancestors made. The mosque will have the highest minarets of the world. The height of the minarets will even surpass the [the 105 meter tall minarets of] Medine-i Münevvere mosque [in Medina.] There will be at least six minarets, but some surprises might occur,” Güner said.

The process which led Güner to become the architect of Çamlıca Mosque began in May with the prime minister’s visit to the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, according to the report. After being appointed to the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry Consultancy upon Erdoğan’s order, Güner came to Istanbul about 20 days ago and began working on the project with his three co-workers. Güner said they are working in an office rented especially for them.

Güner said a permission to build the mosque in the protected area is not required since the ministry has already approved the area’s upper scale plans.

Although he said he did not have detailed information regarding the subject, Güner said he did not think the matter would go to the commission for discussion. He said the ministry had made the plans. “It has been 25 days since they asked me to start the project. I guess its groundwork was completed,” he said.

“This giant mosque in Çamlıca was designed so as to be visible from all parts of Istanbul,” Erdoğan said late May 29.”