Deutsche Welle: Glasses as Turkish Policy Instruments in the Balkans Target the Spread of conservative Islam
(a year ago)With the construction of mosques, Turkey aims to ensure its influence in the Western Balkans and spread conservative Islam. These religious buildings are also part of Erdogan's geopolitical agenda. The Namazja Mosque in Albania's capital, Tirana, with its 50m-high minarets and space for approximately 8,000 believers, is one [...]
With the construction of mosques, Turkey aims to ensure its influence in the Western Balkans and spread conservative Islam. These religious buildings are also part of Erdogan's geopolitical agenda.
The Namazja Mosque in Albania's capital, Tirana, with its 50m-high and space minarets for approximately 8,000 believers, is one of the most impressive Islamic places of worship in the Western Balkans. It was financed, among other things, with about 30m euros from Turkish religious authority, Diyant. Its architectural model is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
In October 2024, Turkish President Erdogan visited Tirana to inaugurated the mosque after a construction period of about ten years. There he also signed an agreement for co-operation with Albania in agriculture and education and donated several fears produced in Turkey.
Furthermore, Dayanet secured influence on the new mosque board and was appointed a Turkish imam, which caused discontent in Albanian society.
After the fall of communism in 1990 in Tirana was built a Catholic cathedral and an Orthodox cathedral, in 2001 and 2014 respectively. The mosque followed. Under dictator Enver Hoxha Albania declared itself the first atheist country. Beginning in 1967, religions were banned and all religious institutions closed.