Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs

After the Turkish president said a mosque would be appropriate on the spot where he claims that Muslims discovered the Americas, a site has reportedly been allocated for a mosque’s construction in the Cuban capital Havana.

The head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has sent a letter to the Alevi community for the holy month of Muharram, as well as Ashura and Karbala, saying all Muslims should unit under common values in order to avoid new Karbalas, regardless of sectarian differences.

Tensions over the construction of a small mosque next to the protected Validebağ grove on Istanbul’s Asian side are growing, after local activists opposed to the cutting down of trees staged a protest march on Oct. 25.

The head of Turkey’s top religious body has become involved in the heated debate on efforts to build a mosque on a grove in Istanbul Mehmet Görmez, head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), has become involved in the heated debate on efforts to build a mosque on a grove on Istanbul’s Anatolian side, saying "love for prayer and love for nature should not be compared."<