Source : World Bulletin / 16 Apr 2014

Turkey's Religious Affairs Foundation (TDV) sent a delegation to Cuba to discuss building a mosque in its capital Havana.

Having paid a visit to the Cuban department of religious affairs, TDV assistant manager Mustafa Tutkun sought permission to begin work on the mosque, which will be designed after the famous Ortakoy mosque in Istanbul.

The mosque is being built to serve the city's 3,500 Muslims and will be complete within a year, Tutkun said.

Land for the mosque has already been allocated in the city's Old Havana district. Tutkun said that the design of Ortakoy mosque would fit in nicely with the architecture of the surrounding area.

The plan is part of a wider project by the TDV in building mosques for Muslims who live in the Caribbean. A similar project in Haiti is due to be complete by the end of this year, Tutkun said.