Mosque put up for sale for 15 million liras in Turkey’s northeast

TRABZON

An uncompleted mosque in the northeastern province of Trabzon’s Ortahisar district has been put up for sale by local authorities for 15 million Turkish Liras (around $3 million) due to financial difficulties.

“We had an old mosque 15 years ago. We tore it down and wanted to build a new one. Until now 5 million liras [roughly $953,000] were spent on the mosque, but only 45 percent of the construction has been completed. We need 2 million liras [approximately $381,220] more [to complete the construction], we do not want anything else,” said Mustafa Kurt, the Uğurlu neighborhood head (“muhtar” in Turkish).

Kurt said the mosque was established on an area of 600 square meters and has a 2,000-person capacity.

The neighborhood complained that there is another social complex consisting of a mosque being built in the same district for which authorities had allocated a budget of 100 million liras.

“If they gave us 2 million of this amount [of 100 million liras], we would have completed this mosque. We are waiting for funeral prayers in neighborhood mosques so that we can go and raise money,” he added.

“If there is a mosque for 100 million liras [around $19 million], then I am putting [this] mosque up for sale for 15 million liras,” he said.

Kurt also stressed that politicians come to the district during election time and make “empty promises” regarding the mosque’s construction.