President of Turkey’s Erdogan made a few days ago “Muslim sailors had arrived in the shores of America in 1178. In his diaries, Christopher Columbus referred to the presence of a mosque on top of a mountain in Cuba. A mosque will suit well on top of that mountain today, too. Their permission is enough,”  Turkish people has increased interest in Cuba.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says the Muslim faith was “widespread” in America before the arrival of Columbus in the 15th century, and insists that a massive mosque should be erected in Havana, despite the city’s refusal to grant a building permit says a few days ago.

“The religion of Islam was widespread before Columbus,” the longtime Turkish leader told the audience at the first ever Latin American Muslim leaders summit in Istanbul,

“Muslim sailors had arrived in the shores of America in 1178. In his diaries, Christopher Columbus referred to the presence of a mosque on top of a mountain in Cuba.”

“This idea first came out as our foundation’s project and bilateral visits then took place,” Mustafa Tutkun, vice general manager of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), told Daily Vatan on Thursday, November 20.

“The land where the mosque can be constructed is ready.”

A five-acre land in the Old Havana district is ready for building the mosque that was proposed by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip last week.

According to Tutkun, Diyanet has been negotiating the possibilities of the mosque construction between Cuban officials and the Turkish government.

Planning the mosque’s construction, Tutkun suggested its design would be inspired by the picturesque Ortaköy Mosque in Istanbul.

“We are thinking of building a [mosque] similar to the Ortaköy Mosque,” said Tutkun.

Despite Diyanet’s willingness to fund the mosque construction, “Cuban officials would prefer the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to construct the mosque, rather than one country,” according to Tutkun.

“Our foundation is ready to pay the costs of [the mosque],” Tutkun satated.

Plans to construct Cuba’s first mosque were announced last week by Erdogan as a part of his remarks about the discovery of the Americas by Muslims in the 12th century, more than three centuries before Christopher Columbus.

Following these discussions was the explosion of Cuba tour in Turkey;  began intense interest in selling the travel agencys organized to Cuban Tour which makes Tour of Cuba an given Cuban visa, the official travel agency WTS.

WTS tour operator Baris Yumrukcu was the guest of mainstream television news bulletins. Yumrukcu, “there was a explosive demand after Erdogan’s speech” he said

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