Free Republic

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a great passion for mosques. Since he took power in Turkey, Mr. Erdogan has built 17,000 Islamic prayer sites. The largest in the world stands on the Camlica Hill, dominating the Asian side of Istanbul, where the East, in the words of Cocteau, extends to Europe “its old bejeweled hand”. The Turkish president is committed to the construction of mosques in European capitals as well. Erdogan seeks to create the image of an Islamic civilization on the rise once again with the Turks acting as the vanguard of this revival. Ten mosques have been financed by...

"In Spain there are signs that Islam will dominate once again." — Hizrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Spiritual Leader, Ahmadiyya Community, SpainFrom Belgium to Greece and Spain to Germany, 2013 is shaping up to be another banner year for the construction of mosques in Europe. In Belgium, work is about to begin on the construction of a mega-mosque in Liège, the third-largest city in the country. The largest mosque in Wallonia (the French-speaking region of Belgium) will be built on an 11,000 m² (118,000 ft²) plot and will consist of a main building with a capacity for 1,000 worshippers, a...