Turkey's top religious body criticizes 'liberal' mosque in Germany

Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) strongly criticized a new "liberal" mosque in Germany on June 20, saying it violates the principles of Islam.     

The new Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque, a mosque which allows female and male Muslims to pray together and bans the wearing of burkas, was opened in Berlin on June 16. The mosque is located inside a Protestant church.        

"This initiative has disregarded the basic principles of our holy faith," Diyanet said in a written statement. 

"It is clear that this is a religion engineering project, which was done with the guidance of FETÖ [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] and structures like it," it said.         

FETÖ is widely believed to have been behind the July 2016 coup attempt. 

The statement also said the principles of Islam are laid out in the holy Quran.        

"The practices inside the mosque mentioned by the media during the opening do not comply with Islam and should not be considered as freedom of thought," it said.      

The mosque was founded by Seyran Ateş, a lawyer and women's rights activist living in Germany.