The Turkish Diyanet Foundation (TDV), affiliated with Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, has finished construction of a mosque in Djibouti, Turkish daily Sabah reported on Friday.
Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop attended the opening ceremony in the east African country, alongside Djibouti’s Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed.
President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş led the Friday prayer at the new mosque, Sabah said.
Turkey and Djibouti are reviving bilateral relations as members of the international Muslim community, Şentop said at the ceremony.
Turkey, under Justice and Development Party (AKP) governments, has spent some half a billion dollars to build over 100 mosques in recent years in various countries around the world, including those formerly governed by the Ottoman Empire, as part of efforts to extend its influence and play a leading role in the Muslim world in what has been called a soft power project.
Source: ahval
