Government to rebuild ‘lost’ mosques in Turkey

ISTANBUL

AA Photo

The government plans to rebuild some of the 150 mosques around the country that have disappeared, according to Foundations Directorate head Adnan Ertem.

Some 130 of the “lost” mosques are in Istanbul, and some over time have been replaced by buildings and apartments. “About those we cannot do much,” Ertem told daily Hürriyet. “But if the plots are still vacant, then we will rebuild them.”

One of the lost mosques, the Fetih Mosque, is now only a single minaret next to Rumeli Hisarı; another is the Fazıl Efendi Mosque in Yeniköy Park, which was completely demolished over time.

“We will rebuild them to their former [glory]. Similar to those, the Karaköy Mosque, designed by Italian architect Raimondo D’Aronco, will also be rebuilt,” Ertem said.

Ertem said some of the mosques have been sold off or turned into buildings, which the directorate is planning to repurchase if possible.

The finalized projects so far include the Çakır Ağa Mosque near Yenikapı, which was taken down in 1958 for road construction and Aksaray’s Camcılar and Kazasker Abdurrahman Mosques, which suffered similar fates in 1957.

The Salıpazarı Süheyl Bey Mosque, which was also demolished to make way for road construction, is also among the finalized projects, according to Hürriyet.